Stephen Harper’s war on transparency

Stonewalling, foot-dragging and contempt for Parliament pay. At least that’s what the federal government appears to have concluded in the wake of the 2011 election. Toppled two years ago after being found in contempt of Parliament for failing to disclose fiscal information, the Conservatives were nonetheless rewarded in the polls with a majority government — a victory that has served as positive reinforcement for their modus operandi of obfuscation.

Things have only gotten worse. As Kevin Page, Canada’s first parliamentary budget officer, prepares to leave his post later this month, he remains locked in a legal battle with the government — the culmination of a year-long struggle to access details on the specific nature of the deep cuts contained in the last federal budget.

Evidently, the Conservatives are tired of fighting with the PBO. The job description for Page’s replacement, released last Thursday, seems to be a direct rebuke to the outgoing watchdog. The suitable candidate will be “tactful and discreet,” it says, and capable of “achieving consensus.” (Though why an economic analyst whose job is to crunch numbers would ever need to “achieve consensus” is a mystery to us.)

While the government may very well be able to defang the PBO, doing the same to Parliament is a taller task. Not that it’s not trying.

The Canadian Press revealed last week that 11 federal departments are refusing to provide Parliament with plans to address concerns raised by the auditor general, despite being mandated to do so. Departments are required to submit these action plans to the public accounts committee within six months of the release of any auditor general’s report in which they are inspected. Some are now more than a year late.

Why so tardy? According to spokespeople from several departments, the plans need only be submitted if the department is called to testify before Parliament. But that’s simply not the case. And the notion that multiple departments would independently misread a short, clearly worded motion in the exact same way stretches credulity.

“This demonstrates that the public accounts committee, a once-respected, even feared body of Parliament, is now fluffed off by our government as irrelevant,” said Liberal MP Gerry Byrne, the committee’s vice-chair.

The same could be said for scrutiny more generally. Until the government starts to show some respect for Parliament and the transparency necessary for good government, we can only wonder what it has to hide.

Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Editorial