Bev" Oda, Wikipedia info.

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Beverley Joan "Bev" Oda, PC, MP (born July 27, 1944 in Thunder Bay, Ontario)^[1] is a Canadian politician. She is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, as well as the first Japanese-Canadian MP and Cabinet Minister in Canadian history. She represents the riding of Durham for the Conservative Party of Canada. She was appointed Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women on February 6, 2006. On August 14, 2007, she was appointed to a new portfolio:Minister for International Cooperation.

Contents  [hide] 1 Background 2 Politics 2.1 2006 fundraising controversy 2.2 2006/2008 limo controversy 2.3 2011 CIDA memo controversy 3 References 4 Footnotes 5 External links

[edit]Background

Oda, a sansei, was born in Thunder Bay. Her mother was interned at Bay Farm in 1942 and her father went to southwestern Ontario to work on a sugar beet farm. He moved to Fort William to do millwork where he met his wife.^[2]

Oda has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto.^[3] She began her broadcasting career at TV Ontario in 1973, and later worked for Citytv and the Global Television Network. Oda was an Ontario Film Review Board Member in 1986-87, and a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Commissioner from 1987 to 1993. She became the Chair of FUND (now The Harold Greenberg Fund) in 1994. From 1995 to 1999, she was a Senior Vice-President of CTV and Baton Broadcasting. She was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame in November 2003, and was awarded The Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of work in broadcasting. She has also worked as a policy adviser to three Secretaries of State.

[edit]Politics

Oda was for many years a volunteer with the Progressive Conservative Party. She ran as a Conservative in Clarington—Scugog—Uxbridge in the 2004 federal election, and won a narrow victory over Liberal Tim Lang.

Following her election, Oda was named as the Conservative Party critic for the Ministry of Heritage. She has recently argued in favour of allowing more Canadian and foreign programming options in the country.

On November 15, 2004, she reintroduced Bill C-333, the Chinese Canadian Recognition and Redress Act, which calls on parliament to recognize the contribution of Chinese immigrants to Canada, and acknowledge the unjust past treatments of Chinese Canadians as a result of racist legislation. Oda is not herself Chinese, but is Canada's first parliamentarian of Japanese heritage.

In the 2006 election, she successfully defended her seat in Durham with 47% of the vote in the riding, despite controversy over campaign funding by US copyright proponents.^[4] On February 6, 2006, Oda was sworn in as Heritage Minister in the cabinet of the newly elected Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She is the first Japanese-Canadian cabinet minister in Canadian history.

Oda was re-elected by a significant margin in the 2008 federal election.

[edit]2006 fundraising controversy

In November 2006, Oda planned on holding a fundraising dinner for broadcasting executives, just weeks before a major review of broadcasting rules. The event was cancelled, but a number of donations were still made.^[5]

[edit]2006/2008 limo controversy

In 2006, Oda paid back $2,200 to taxpayers after the Liberals found that she had incurred nearly $5,500 in limo rides at the 2006 Juno awards in Halifax.^[6] In 2008, she was accused of hiding over $17,000 dollars of limo expenses billed to tax payers.^[6]

[edit]2011 CIDA memo controversy

In February 2011, Bev Oda admitted to doctoring an already signed CIDA memo in 2009 that resulted in a funding recommendation for KAIROS being ignored.^[7] The memo was altered by the addition of 'not' into the recommendation line of the document.^[8] For more than a year, Oda had represented this change as an action taken by CIDA staff, when in fact it was a political decision made at her direction. KAIROS is a faith-based human rights organization, and has been attacked by Conservatives for an allegedly anti-Israel stance in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.^[7]

Opposition MPs in the House Foreign Affairs committee have initiated proceedings which could lead to a contempt of parliament finding against Oda; this would be the first time in Canadian history that a sitting cabinet minister would be found in contempt. Prime Minister Harper has continued to support Oda.^[9]

[edit]References

• Geist, Michael. "The Sad Reality of Copyright Policy in Canada". Retrieved 2006-02-07.

[edit]Footnotes

1. ^ Parliament of Canada: ODA, The Hon. Beverley J. (Bev), P.C., B.A.
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ Conservative Party of Canada Website
4. ^ Michael Geist: The Sad Reality of Copyright Policy in Canada
5. ^ Curry, Bill (2007-05-04). "Oda faces heat over aborted fundraising event". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on May 07, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-05.
6. ^ ^a b NDP says Conservative MP hid limo expenses, May 8th 2008, ctv news
7. ^ ^a b Bill Curry; Gloria Galloway (14 February 2011). "Accusations against Oda tied up in a ‘not’". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
8. ^ "Amended CIDA document". Retrieved 14 February 2011.
9. ^ Clark, Campbell (Feb. 15, 2011). "Amid cries of contempt, Harper backs Bev Oda". The Globe and Mail (Ottawa). Retrieved 16 February 2011.

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