At last, someone with some clout has said what I’ve been thinking about the Sponsorship Scandal and the resulting hoohaw about reinstating accountability throughout the goverment.
Mr. Swain is quoted in a Vancouver Sun article as saying:
“Two hundred and thirty-eight new rules, plus legions of comptrollers and auditors, will not prevent malfeasance if a prime minister decides that a higher cause justifies playing fast and loose with the rules.”
Exactly. The bureaucracy is eating itself trying to increase accountability at the lowest, most visible levels whilst up in the clouds, where the big bosses are and where they all scratch each others’ backs with nice, big golden sticks, people are still going to do what they want, accountable to no one, because they have no fear of the consequences and know they can justify anything they do.
And also:
He predicted that parliamentarians, who have demanded better program management, will be “appalled to discover that the red tape of ‘management improvement’ was eating a huge and ever-larger fraction of the resources they have taxed Canadians for.”
Only by highlighting the costs can the federal bureaucracy avoid the “system breakdown, the total constipation, that would be the inevitable consequence of the full implementation of the recently announced reforms.”
Ha. Poo joke. Ha ha.
On a side-note, I started reading the Gomery Report last week and was delighted with its readability. It is written in the first person and with lots of titilating phrases like, “A veil of secrecy” Ooh, the intrigue!
On another side-note, while I’m here & talking about politics, should the Vancouver Fire Department be able to tell me how they intend to vote so I can vote like them, if I happen to admire and trust firefighters so much that I don’t even want to make up my own mind? I don’t even trust Saint Aardvark that much. That’s why I am supporting the Nude Garden Party.
There was a little ad in the paper today from the Vancouver Fire Department that said “we’ve assessed all the candidates and we think you should pick Jim Green for mayor and the following list of people for councillor. You can clip this list to take with you to the booth if you like.” How weird: a) a cheat sheet for voting and b) voting like a firefighter. I guess it’s like a personal shopper: well, I don’t know what my best colours are. Here, you with the porkpie hat and the well-groomed goatee, YOU pick a bunch of sweaters for me to wear for the next 4 years.