Canada is Becoming a Dictatorship (Part __)
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: Transparency is essential in a democracy. We’ve seen PM Harper try several things to stifle transparency, including getting rid of free speech, which is also a cornerstone of democracy. Check out what he’s trying to do to our Budget Watchdog–with no opposition from the other parties..assholes–and realize that it’s one more step toward becoming a dictatorship. Sure, I’m exaggerating about the dictatorship part, but the erosion of transparency at all levels of government is a very scary sign of where we’re heading.
The publication last week of new deficit forecasts by the Parliamentary Budget Officer came as a timely reminder of why we need the independent watchdog. The office, headed up by Kevin Page, was created in 2006 by the Conservative government as part of its accountability legislation. Modelled after the Congressional Budget Office in Washington, it reports to Parliament, not the government. It is meant to provide a check against the finance department’s monopoly on information about the government’s books.
Back in January, for example, the finance department forecast a deficit of $34 billion for this fiscal year (ending March 31, 2010), improving gradually to a surplus of $700 million by the 2013-14 fiscal year. The department has since revised its forecast deficit for this fiscal year to $50 billion, but it has left unchanged its forecast for subsequent years, including the surplus in 2013-14.
Along comes Page this week to say, in effect, balderdash. According to Page (a former finance department official himself), the deficit is going to be more resistant to reduction than finance has predicted and the budget will remain at $17 billion in the red in 2013-14.
The government immediately tossed cold water on Page’s gloomy deficit outlook. Ted Menzies, parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, sniffed that Page did not take into account the government’s plans – as yet unannounced – for spending cuts and asset sales to bring down the deficit.
This is an old Conservative trick. In 2003, a provincial election year, the Ontario Conservatives – many of whom are now working in Ottawa – used phantom spending cuts and asset sales to claim falsely that the budget was balanced. When the Liberals won the election and took office at Queen’s Park, they discovered a $5.6 billion deficit.
Given that 2009 could well be a federal election year, the Ottawa Conservatives should be telling us now what spending (health care?) they plan to cut and what assets (the CBC?) they plan to sell to bring the budget into balance within five years. Likewise, the opposition parties should be revealing their own plans for coping with the ballooning deficit.
And the voters should thank Kevin Page and his staff for providing them with the necessary information to judge the parties’ responses.
The government is beginning to wish it had never created this Frankenstein-like watchdog. Page’s budget has already been slashed, and there is now talk in Ottawa that his office will be abolished.
Surprisingly, the opposition parties have not rushed to the defence of the office. In May, Page made a direct appeal to MPs of all parties: “The Parliamentary Budget Officer, to be effective .. must be subservient to Parliament but independent in the provision of analysis so that it can carry out its legislated responsibilities free from political and bureaucratic interference.” But the obtuse opposition sided with the government in voting to rein Page in. Now there are fears that Page will quit in frustration.
This would be a major blow to our democracy.