A rchive Date
[ 04-06-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/jacobs.html
Enough with the benign dictatorship!
By MINDELLE JACOBS -- Edmonton Sun
June 4, 2002Years ago, we were livid at the Tories. Now we're furious at the Liberals. It doesn't seem to matter who's in power - we hate them all.
The problem? Dishonesty, secrecy and lack of accountability in government.
The perpetrators? The politicians running the show.
Right now, it's the Grits. Someday, if the Liberals implode amid arrogance and corruption, it will be politicians of another stripe. Compared to the political pork-barrelling and rule-breaking that goes on in most of the world, Canada is not that bad.
But we should be doing so much better. Yet the recent flippant comments by Prime Minister Jean Chretien suggest he thinks the status quo is just fine. It's possible "a few million dollars" went missing, the PM admitted the other day. But that's OK, he shrugged, because Quebec's happy.
He flew into a rage when opposition politicians and reporters refused to let up about the alleged conflict-of interest-scandals rocking the government. "Do you want us to be eunuchs in our job?" he asked.
That's rich, coming from the leader of a party in a country where there is more concentration of power at the top than any other democracy in the world. No, Mr. Chretien. Even though you're too damned ballsy for your own good, Canadians don't want a eunuch for a prime minister. We'd settle for a more honest and open government, though.
But let's not kid ourselves. If the Tories or the Alliance were in power, would the reaction be any different?
Before the last election, Democracy Watch graded the platforms of seven parties to see if they were committed to democratizing the government. None of the parties had a comprehensive plan to ensure the government was representative, ethical, open, accountable and citizen-driven. The Liberals were the worst, reported Democracy Watch, a feisty, non-partisan group that constantly nips at the heels of government in its push for democratic reform.
Indeed, let's look at some of the promises the Grits made in their 1993 "Red Book."
They pledged to establish an independent ethics watchdog who reports directly to Parliament. Instead, ethics commissioner Howard Wilson reports to the prime minister. They vowed to bring in ethics rules for MPs and senators.
Last month, mired in a deepening corruption scandal, Chretien finally announced a code of ethics is being developed. Now there's a sign of government integrity. Wait until the poop hits the fan before attempting to set things right.
Nine years ago, the Liberals also promised to strengthen the access-to-information law and enact a whistle-blower protection law to protect public servants who report government wrongdoing. Ottawa set up a task force to review the access-to-information legislation right after the 2000 election. So far, nothing's changed.
Duff Conacher, co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, predicts the Liberals will make it even harder for Canadians to get information.
And he says the whistle-blower protection law brought in last fall is toothless because the official who probes alleged violations reports to senior bureaucrats - who may be the culprits in the first place.
Add to that a fractured opposition and a parliamentary process that prevents ordinary MPs from wielding any influence and you end up with an imperious regime with the power to do as it likes.
The chairs and members of parliamentary committees, for instance, are rotated out after a year. No one's ever there long enough to become an expert in the issues being discussed. Likewise, parliamentary secretaries are booted out after two years. It makes for truncated democracy and unhappy MPs. The parties in power like it that way, says Conacher.
"Like most humans, politicians do not want more accountability in their lives. They want less."
Mindelle can be reached by e-mail at mjacobs@edm.sunpub.com Letters to the editor should be sent to letters@edm.sunpub.com
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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