Parks police requests probe to 'clear the air' over allegations of wrongdoing
The Ontario Provincial Police is investigating allegations of procurement wrongdoing at the Niagara Parks Commission. Bullet News has learned the Parks Commission’s own Niagara Parks Police requested the OPP look into the assertions in an attempt to ‘clear the air.’
Parks Police Chief Doug Kane confirmed he ‘recently’ made the call to the OPP, which is currently interviewing current and former staff members and current and former commissioners.
“It’s not a secret that there has been a number of allegations made over time and rather than us investigating those we thought we would send it to a totally independent agency such as the OPP,” Kane said. “They have no connection to the Niagara Parks Commission and this will let them conduct their own investigation.”
The anti-rackets branch of the OPP is handling the inquiry, which is part of the investigations and support bureau.
“We will often be requested by other police services or agencies to conduct professional investigations in an independent, transparent and impartial manner,” said OPP spokesman Sgt. Pierre Chamberland from headquarters in Orillia. “We’ve been requested by the NPP to conduct an investigation of possible irregularities concerning the procurement of goods and services at the Niagara Parks Commission.”
Chamberland could not estimate how long it will take.
“It takes the time that is necessary,” he said. “It all depends on the type of information and documents and interviews that are being dealt with.”
The OPP’s involvement coincides with an independent forensic audit of the Niagara Parks Commission being carried out by an outside firm contracted through the Ontario Internal Audit Division of the Ministry of Finance for the Ministry of Tourism. Kane stressed the OPP probe has nothing to do with the government-ordered forensic audit.
The forensic audit started several months ago and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Sources confirm it will delve into some specific projects at the Parks Commission, including The Fury, the overall refurbishment of the Table Rock centre at the brink of Niagara Falls, Legends Golf Course, the boat tour in the lower Niagara River, and Queenston Heights Restaurant. Sources say auditors may be looking at other areas as well, and the investigation is not restricted to a specified time span. In other words, it can go back as far as auditors deem necessary.
The Table Rock complex underwent a major expansion and re-opened in 2008. The $35-million transformation included a two-level viewing area of the falls, a new restaurant, new shops, customer services and ticket purchasing areas, and Niagara’s Fury, the $7-million Disney-type attraction.
Legends Golf Course opened in 2002 to great fanfare and, over the years, has been the subject of considerable attention. The Niagara Parks Commission has never shared detailed financial information about Legends, but it is believed to be losing money. It has been criticized by private course owners for undercutting them on green fees with taxpayer money. Some have suggested Legends should be closed and turned into parklands, or at least be leased off to private interests.
Neither the OPP nor Kane would comment on the specifics of this newest police investigation or how it might differ from that of the forensic auditors.
Finance ministry spokesman Scott Blodgett said there is a significant difference between a regular audit and a forensic audit.
“Regular audits can be compliance or assurance, and the objective is to determine if there has been due regard for, and compliance with, relevant legislative statutes, regulations and administrative requirements,” Blodgett said. “Recommendations are made where the audit identifies gaps in procedures or practices.
“A forensic audit is conducted to a court level of proof, based on an examination of evidence relating to an assertion or allegation.”
The beleaguered Parks Commission has come under intense scrutiny for more than a year now. Prior to launching the forensic audit, the Ministry of Tourism conducted two other internal audits that revealed abused expense accounts and questionable purchasing practises at the Commission.
The audits, released over the summer, concluded, “in a significant number of instances, the NPC was not in compliance with the travel, meal and hospitality expenses directive.”
Among the findings:
- Meal claims frequently tipped above the 15 per cent government suggestion. In one case, at 12:40 a.m., a tip of $172 was left, amounting to 66 per cent of the cost of the entire meal
- The relative of a senior employee received a discount of almost $4,000 for a wedding banquet
- Some staff carried corporate credit cards in their own names with the bills going directly to the Commission; often detailed receipts supporting expenses were not obtained
- A trip to China with a budget of more than $12,000 included no written expectations to determine the success of the mission
- In one case an employee approved travel expenses of a supervisor
- A hotel statement from Tokyo, Japan for the eight-day period from Oct. 13-20, 2009 included laundry charges of approximately $275 without any itemized receipts or explanation
- There were no major problems found with expenses of commissioners
The provincial auditors also took the Commission to task for one-source procurement deals. For example, as the lead partner in the new Regional Tourism Organization, the Parks Commission was criticized when the RTO reached an untendered agreement with a Niagara Falls-based publisher to produce a glossy tourism magazine for $500,000, plus another $250,000 possible through the sale of advertising. The most infamous transgression, though, centred on the lease to operate boat tours in the Niagara River.
In 2008 it was revealed the NPC had quietly awarded an untendered 25-year lease to the operators of the Maid of the Mist tour boat excursions. It took two government reviews before the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture ordered the Niagara Parks Commission to conduct a competitive bidding process for the Maid of the Mist lease, which is currently under way. Sources tell Bullet News that contract is worth $7-10 million in revenue annually.
Queen’s Park sources tell Bullet News the OPP is likely to cover much of the same ground as the forensic auditors, but police have the additional weight of being able to bring charges.
Incumbent Tourism Minister Michael Chan could not be reached to comment on the OPP investigation. Niagara Falls incumbent MPP Kim Craitor, who was Chan’s Parliamentary assistant, said he did not know about the OPP’s involvement until informed this week by Bullet News.
Craitor, a frequent critic of the secrecy under which the Parks Commission once operated, had been a proponent of an outside forensic audit. He chose his words carefully when asked about the OPP investigation.
“I have complete confidence in the Parks Police and Doug Kane, and they wouldn’t have called the OPP without good reason.”
Niagara Parks Commission interim chairwoman Janice Thomson also found out about the OPP this week from Bullet News. She said she didn’t find that unusual or troubling, even though Parks Commission general manager Fay Booker was informed last month that the OPP had been called.
“I feel good about that,” Thomson said. “We want this to be totally independent. We don’t want anything to be managed by the parks. Lets just have this investigated and put it all to rest once and for all.”
Thomson said she was aware the Parks Police was conducting investigations of its own, but said she did not know Kane was planning to bring in the OPP.
“We’re not involved at all with the OPP. It’s police work. Chief Kane has had information given to him from various sources. He was investigating things on his own. He’s always receiving information from different people, and as part of their police work they have the ability to call in other resources. That is what has happened here.”
Thomson said she has not been interviewed by the OPP and doesn’t know if she will be.
Niagara Falls businessman Bob Gale, a former Parks commissioner, met with an OPP officer last week for 90 minutes. It was Gale who was responsible for shining a light on the boat-tour lease situation. When his continued questions and complaints to fellow commissioners and the government were disregarded, he brought his concerns to the Ontario integrity commissioner and slowly the information began to trickle out. Gale was not reappointed to the NPC when his three-year term expired in February of 2009.
“(The OPP) told me they were looking into the Niagara Parks Commission. I mentioned that I had called them about a year ago asking them to get involved. They told me then it was out of their jurisdiction and it would have to be covered by the Niagara Regional Police. I said I wanted someone independent to look into this and I let it drop. Why it is different now? I don’t know. He said they were instructed to come down here, but he didn’t say by who. He did say that things change.”
“I just hope once and for all they either find something wrong and go after the people involved, or say without a doubt that there is no evidence of anything.”
Gale urged anyone with information about past wrongdoings at the NPC to come forward.
“This is the time everybody has to step up, including employees of the Niagara Parks Commission. If they have the facts or know about wrongdoing, call the OPP. You can no longer sit back and use the excuse that ‘I could lose my job.’ Things have changed.
“It’s now time to stop the bleeding, and as long as you have the facts then tell people. Come forward. If you know something happened, now is the time to call the OPP - or call me and I will put you in touch with the OPP.”
The possibility of having the OPP investigate the Parks Commission was discussed last January in an interview with Booker when she was chairwoman. Booker, who became general manager in June, said at the time she wouldn’t hesitate to call police if she found evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the provincial agency.
This was all prior to the results of provincial audits coming into the public domain, but was at a time when serious allegations were floating around.
A story in the Globe and Mail last December raised the spectre of an alleged forgery that was uncovered during an investigation of a complaint to the Ontario Integrity Commissioner in 2008. The transcript of an interview between Gale and two provincial investigators reveals that Gale was told an NPC employee had forged a signature on a contract for a concert scheduled to be held in Niagara Falls. The transcript says the concert had to be cancelled due to inadequate sponsorship, and that the Parks Commission lost $40,000 on the failed deal.
The statement to the Integrity Commissioner’s investigators does not name the Parks employee, and Gale has refused to publicly name the employee or the person who told him of the alleged forgery.
Booker told Bullet News at the time she reviewed a file concerning an alleged forgery. She said there was no indication the alleged incident ever occurred.
“I do not see anything that suggests any forgery. There is a letter from the lawyers that talks about possible misuse of authority, but the word forgery never appears. From a human resources perspective there’s not an issue with an alleged forgery.”
Gale disclosed the alleged forgery in September 2008, but no one has said what was done with the information.
Booker would not comment on the current OPP investigation, deflecting questions to Thomson and the police. An email to Booker asked if she suggested or directed Kane call the OPP, but she did not address the question. Thomson and Kane both said the police service operates independently from Parks Commission management and that the decision to contact the OPP came from the police.
“We always knew the OPP was a possibility,” Thomson said. “But we’re not hands on directing Doug Kane in his work. He does what he has to do.”
Peter Conradi is the publisher of Bullet News Niagara at www.bulletnewsniagara.ca
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