A series of bad calls

Lousy optics.

They seem quite prevalent this spring, especially in very high places. And when that happens, there can be far-reaching impacts.

Take, for instance, the two top-level Canadian Armed Forces commanders who went golfing this month with former chief of defence staff Jonathan Vance at an exclusive military country club in Ottawa.

Apparently, it didn’t matter much to Vice-chief of Defence Staff Michael Rouleau and Vice-admiral Craig Baines, head of the Royal Canadian Navy, that Vance was under military police investigation for alleged sexual misconduct. Inappropriate?

Well, yes, considering the fact the military police are part of the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service, which reports directly to, you guessed it, Lt.-gen. Rouleau.

Not surprisingly, the fallout was swift with Rouleau stepping down this week. In his exit statement, he wrote he now accepts how his decision to golf with Vance and Baines contributed to “further erosion of trust” in the investigation process.

If only Rouleau had paid closer attention to optics in the first place.

Or consider recent media revelations two spouses of top Mounties in Nova Scotia are on a team gathering evidence for the public inquiry into the mass killing of 22 people that began in Portapique in April 2020, set for October.

One is Mike Butcher, a retired RCMP officer on contract to the force, who’s married to Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman, commanding officer of the RCMP in Nova Scotia since January 2019.

The evidence-gathering team does not work for the Mass Casualty Commission examining the tragedy, but will be passing along information required by the commission. They are employed by the RCMP.

Once again, the optics here aren’t great. How does the team’s role and makeup look to the public — especially victims’ families — who have questioned the RCMP’S actions? Especially with close contacts of high-ranking officers gathering evidence?

Will the recommendations of the inquiry be forever tainted, however unfairly, by perceptions of possible conflict of interest on the part of the team gathering evidence? Were there no other candidates available?

The RCMP told CBC it is reviewing whether its policies were followed when this evidence-gathering team was assembled.

If they were followed, perhaps those policies need a rethink because the optics don’t look very good.

Then there are other, less recent examples frequently involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau, along with former finance minister Bill Morneau, was criticized last year for granting WE Charity a $43.5-million federal contract despite his family’s involvement with the charity.

In 2019, the prime minister looked bad in the Snc-lavalin scandal after senior cabinet minister Jody Wilson-raybould resigned, alleging Trudeau had meddled in her legal handling of the case.

Who could forget those ridiculous photos of Trudeau and wife Sophie in local costumes taken during his 2018 trip to India?

And let’s not forget the prime minister’s trip to Agha Khan’s private island in 2016.

Lousy optics, one and all.