Yeah her name is Bev Oda and she was a hard working dedicated representative for her riding . She came from good immigrant stock and was never a pig at the trough . She made a simple mistake of ordering a glass of orange juice from room service without checking the cost . Do you expect your representatives to eat at Mcd's while travelling put of country ?
Attitudes like yours is what keeps competent women away from politics so we end up with the likes of Jeanne Sauve , Adrienne Clarkson , Alison Redford and others . I/E pigs waiting in line for their turn to feed .
Nah, the $16 orange juice was just the "icing on the cake" after a bunch of other gaffes. However I was remiss in my list of gluttonous bitches..............Pamela Wallin and Helena Guergis. As for Bev Oda you may want to take a gander at the following
"In 2006, Oda paid back $2,200 to taxpayers after the Liberals found that she had incurred nearly $5,500 in limousine rides at the 2006
Juno Awards in
Halifax.
[12] In 2008, she was accused of hiding over $17,000 of limousine expenses billed to taxpayers.
[12]
In February 2011, Bev Oda admitted to directing one of her staff to add a handwritten annotation to an already signed
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) memo in 2009 that resulted in a funding recommendation for
KAIROS being ignored.
[13] The memo was altered by the addition of 'not'
[1] into the recommendation line of the document.
[14] When asked about the matter, Oda had at first told Parliament that she did not know who had made the change.
[13] Opposition MPs on the
House Foreign Affairs committee requested that the Speaker rule on the possible
contempt of parliament against Oda but Prime Minister Harper continued to support Oda.
[15] On March 9, 2011, the
Speaker of the House made a ruling on the issue of Oda's behaviour, stating that "on its face" Oda's statements had caused confusion, which still persisted. Oda replied in the House that she was ready to answer to the confusion, at a House of Commons special committee meeting to be held over three full days the following week.
[16] Speaker Peter Milliken found on
prima facie that the controversy warranted further investigation by a formal parliamentary committee; however, the committee was not able to reach a decision regarding Oda, as the parliamentary session was brought to an end following the non-confidence motion that triggered the 2011 federal election.
[17][18] That election saw Oda retain her seat with 54% of the popular vote.
[19]
On April 23, 2012, it was reported that during a 2011 conference on immunization of poor children Oda had refused to stay in the conference hotel (the
Grange St. Paul) furnished by hosts.
[20] She instead stayed at the
Savoy Hotel at a cost of $665 per night for three nights, ordered orange juice at a cost of $16 and hired a limousine to transport her between her new hotel and the conference. She was also charged $250 for smoking in a non-smoking room.
[21] The costs incurred were at public expense.
[20] Only after widespread media reports of this misuse of public money emerged approximately ten months after the conference did Oda repay the difference in hotel costs but not the limousine costs incurred by her decision.
[22] The total amount she paid back after she was exposed by the media was $1,353.81.
[23] By April 26, it was announced that Oda had repaid the expenses incurred on the taxi rides as well.
[24]
On April 24, 2012, Oda stood in the House of Commons, in response to a question from interim Liberal leader
Bob Rae, and admitted she should never have charged Canadian taxpayers for her stay at the Savoy. She said, "The expenses are unacceptable, should never have been charged to taxpayers…I have repaid the costs associated with [the] changing of hotels and I unreservedly apologize."
[25] Criticism of her spending habits continued, however. On July 3, 2012, Oda announced her intention to leave politics effective July 31, 2012, ahead of an anticipated
cabinet shuffle;
[1] Oda gave no reason for her departure.
[26] Reportedly, her decision to resign was made after she was informed that she would be dropped from cabinet.
[26] On July 4, 2012, she was replaced as Minister of International Cooperation by
Julian Fantino"
