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Ms. Fraser called the sponsorship scandal a “pivotal event” in her career, in a report she released last week (May 25) looking back on her decade in office. “The sponsorship audit affected the way our office was seen by government and the public and, just as important, the way we saw ourselves and the importance of our role,” she wrote.

2. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (2003)

After alerting the RCMP to problems with the government’s sponsorship program, Ms. Fraser called in the RCMP once again in 2003 to investigate former privacy commissioner George Radwanski after her audit of his office turned up overspending on travel and hospitality and workplace culture so fraught with favouritism and punishment that she called it a “reign of terror.” Her investigation found employees in Mr. Radwanski’s “inner circle” got promotions and raises, while those who fell out of favour with the commissioner were banished to a different floor and had their names stripped from reports. Ms. Fraser also accused the commissioner and his communications director of spending extravagantly on hospitality and travel expenses with little proof that the trips had led to any meaningful work. Mr. Radwanksi called the probe a “vicious personal attack.” He was later acquitted of charges of fraud and breach of trust in an Ontario court.

3. Long-gun registry (2002 and 2006)

Ms. Fraser’s first report on the Liberal government’s controversial firearms registry erupted into a political scandal when she revealed that Parliament had largely been kept in the dark about the spiralling costs of the program, which were set to hit $1-billion.

