AWOL Ex-Integrity Commissioner to Appear Before Committee Next Month

It turns out Christiane Ouimet has been hiding out in Florida.

Ouimet is coming back to Ottawa, and she’s not likely to get a warm welcome. Since her sudden retirement from her post as head of the Public Sector Integrity Commission last October she has refused to answer phone calls, letters, and even a summons from a committee looking into an auditor general’s report that found major trouble at her agency. Committee chair Joe Volpe said Tuesday he had received a letter from Ouimet’s lawyer saying she would consent to appear before the committee on March 10, but that she couldn’t appear any sooner because she is in Florida. The auditor general’s report found that Ouimet investigated only seven of the 228 complaints the commission received.