Further news from Canada reveals that there is a more human angle to this scandal of the Ambassador's residence. 

It seems that during the work, when the walls were stripped, the water and hydro (electricity to you and me) disconnected, the windows missing, somebody thought it would be a good idea to make the housekeeper continue living there "for security reasons".  "She's from the Philippines so they're used to those sort of condidtions" said nobody in particular.

A complaint from a concerned...

I have always had an interest in the Law and as friends will know, I have in the past exercised a judicial funtion.  So I often have a look at case law from other jurisdictions, particularly as the common law tradition allows judges in one jurisdiction to refer to judgments in other jurisdictions.  This case from Canada is rather interesting:

Osborne
(Osborne v. Canada (Treasury Board), [1991] 2 S.C.R. 69)

In this case, a group of federal public servants wanted to participate in various poli...