Steve Cardownie: My part in cancelled council trip to US and Canada

In last week's column, I wrote about the invitation extended by the company CGI, which provides the city council's IT requirements, to two councillors and three officials to visit their enterprises in San Diego, Los Angeles and Montreal.
Andrew Kerr and Cammy Day were set to go on the trip (Picture: Greg Macvean)Andrew Kerr and Cammy Day were set to go on the trip (Picture: Greg Macvean)
Andrew Kerr and Cammy Day were set to go on the trip (Picture: Greg Macvean)

This was in response to increasing concern about the company’s performance. All travel and expenses were to be met by the company, which raised questions around the propriety of such an invitation.

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It would appear that due to adverse publicity, the invitation is no longer on the table and the visit will no longer take place. This is likely to induce a huge sigh of relief from councillors with political “savvy” who could foresee the potential conflict-of-interest charges that may have arisen in the minds of the Edinburgh public.

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The two councillors earmarked for the trip are well known to me and I have no doubt that they would have continued to objectively carry out their remit but the general public (who do not know them) might be suspicious about their ability to maintain that objectivity on their return. So it would seem that all’s well that ends well.

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