Opposition fuming over latest IRB appointment

Andrew Mayeda, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Thursday, November 16, 2006

OTTAWA - Opposition MPs are slamming the Conservative government for appointing an executive member of the Ontario Progressive Conservative party to the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Marlene Hogarth was one of two appointees to the board announced Wednesday.

Hogarth is the northwestern region vice-president for the Ontario PCs, according to the party's website. She was also a PC candidate in Thunder Bay, Ont., during the 1993 federal election, but was defeated.

Tory MPs have sharply criticized the former Liberal government for making patronage appointments to the board. But opposition MPs say those accusations now smack of hypocrisy.

''The more it changes, the more it stays the same,'' said New Democrat MP Olivia Chow, the party's deputy immigration critic. ''It looks to me to be a patronage appointment.''

Liberal MP Raymonde Folco, the party's immigration critic, noted the Tories have given her party a rough ride in the past over appointments to the board.

''We were hit by the Conservatives while we were in power. They cried high and low that they wanted to change the system,'' she said.

In their 2006 election platform, the Conservatives promised to make ''qualified government appointments,'' pointing out the Liberals ''have repeatedly appointed insiders, in some cases completely unqualified, to important public offices.''

The IRB has been under considerable scrutiny since last month, when board member Steve Ellis was charged by the RCMP over allegations he solicited sex from a refugee claimant.

This month, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Monte Solberg announced an independent review of the selection process for IRB members, who adjudicate refugee and immigration-related claims.

At a meeting last month of a parliamentary committee on immigration, IRB chair Jean-Guy Fleury explained how the nomination process was improved in 2004 to ''eliminate the perception that patronage trumped merit in the selection of IRB decision-makers.''

Candidates are now vetted by an independent advisory panel, which presents its selections to the immigration minister for appointment. Previously, the selection panel contained members appointed directly by the government.
At the committee meeting, Conservative MP Barry Devolin told Fleury ''the road to getting an appointment on your board for the past 10 years or so has been largely a partisan process, and it wasn't equally open to all Canadians.''

A spokeswoman for Solberg defended the appointment of Hogarth, noting it was made through a ''merit-based process.''

She also noted the IRB, at Solberg's urging, recently took the ''unprecedented step'' of advertising board positions in national newspapers, which resulted in 350 new candidates.

''We're continuing to look for ways to reform the system and get competent, professional members of the Board,'' said Lesley Harmer.

Hogarth is a former member of the Social Benefits Tribunal, which evaluates social assistance claims for the Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services.

She also served as co-chair of the medical-review committee with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Chow said board nominees should be free to have their party allegiances. But she found it disturbing Hogarth does not appear to have much experience with refugee or immigration issues.

''That person could be partisan, but they need to have the qualifications,'' said Chow.

Hogarth did not respond to an e-mail request for comment late Wednesday afternoon.

The other appointment was Daniel McSweeney, a former official with Cancer Care Ontario. Both were appointed to three-year terms.