The Auditor General's Report

[The Baron of Banality]

- Yesterday, the Auditor General released her annual report and a few canadians managed to interrupt their intense concentration watching second rate US TV sitcoms in rerun long enough to drag themselves up to a sitting position on their couches and to declare themselves to be at least slightly annoyed at the horrendous waste and malfeasance revealed by the AG. Then, everybody went back to the boob tube and then back to sleep.

- Well, almost everyone. But for those of us who really are annoyed at being ripped off and are determined to not get fooled again, here are the highlights of yesterday's AG report:

1/ The federal sponsorship program in Quebec was a $250 million boondoggle in which unqualified Liberal hacks were selected from the unwilling to do the unnecessary. At least 40% of that money - $100 million - was handed by the government to middle men who provided no discernible service or value whatsoever in return. This was clearly a case of money laundering that would make the Mafia proud. Since even these arrogant Chretien Liberals were constrained from openly and directly raiding the public treasury to reward their friends and to top up the Liberal party coffers, this $100 million - often without even the necessary phoney and fradulent documentation - was simply handed over to the advertising middle men who then pocketed much of the money for doing nothing and then kicked back millions of dollars to the Liberal party in donations. Federal Liberal money laundering and kick back schemes - a proud part of the canadian heritage and soon to be filmed as a Heritage Moment for those CBC 60 second spots.

2/ The $101 million contract to Bombardier for Chretien's two new executive jets was untendered and unnecessary, reports the AG. No wonder the troops in Afghanistan have been driving around in unarmoured tin cans - clearly, there was no money left in the DND budget for such trivialities as proper and safe equipment for troops on the front lines after Chretien and others took their cut.

3/ The $1.2 billion (that's Billion) of spending SO FAR in native land claims settlements has been spent without any attempts whatsoever to track said spending to ensure that it reached those for whom it was intended and was spent on the purposes for which it was intended and provided reasonable value for money for both taxpayers geenrally and the native peoples. Any bets that this is NOT in reality another billion dollar HRDC type boondoggle and that most of the money was not wasted on friends of the Liberal party and chiefs of a lavish lifestyle and criminal persuasion?

4/ The $3 million spent in Quebec to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the RCMP was redundant, wasteful, undocumented and some of the bank records of the RCMP in Quebec have been "mysteriously" destroyed. This is the 'proud force' who licked their Liberal masters' hands for several years in persuing a phony, politically motivated witch hunt to nail Brian Mulroney because that petit petty prick Chretien wanted to nail him regardless of evidence or rule of law. This shows that the Liberals now have even the national police force in their pockets so that any pretense of the old separation of politics and the bureaucracy is dead and the result is the politization and corruption of the public sector.

5/ In Tequila Sheila's former stomping ground, Heritage Canada, the AG reports that our national parks are crumbling into total disrepair and that priceless heritage documents from our history are rotting due to inadequate storage facilities. Presumably, Sheila was too busy fixing up her Liberal friends in Hamilton and elsewhere, handing out free flags, and campaigning for the leadership to be able to focus on and to channel money to where it was most needed.

6/ The EI surplus paid by all of us who earn income has now reached $43.8 billion which, for example, would be enough to fund the entire health AND education budgets of the province of Ontario. For the past few years, the AG has noted this in her report since it has under Martin been transformed into the sort of fradulent insurance scheme that would land private sector executives in the crowbar hotel. Starting in 1995, Martin jacked up the rates dramatically while making it harder to qualify for the insurance and reducing the level and duration of the payouts. Now, the AG reports that 2/3 of those who phone the EI centers for information and assistance get a busy signal (which is probably just as well since only 1/3 now can qualify for the benefits to which they contribute every payday).

THERE IS MORE, MUCH MORE, OF THIS SHIT BUT YOU GET THE IDEA, DON'T YOU?

For me, I have decided that I cannot stomach another Liberal term even though I was toying with the idea of a one time vote for blue Liberal Paul Martin unless Tony Clement became CPC leader. Now, I shall support the CPC even if Stephen Harper becomes leader. If the totally unqualified little rich girl becomes leader, then I shall for the first time ever (I've been voting since 1965) not vote.

Paul Martin was the number two minister in the government and in Quebec, and the finance minister to boot, during the time of this money laundering and kick back scheme in Quebec. For him to say he knew nothing about it is simply a disgusting bloody lie.

The truth is that he had to know the gossip and some of the realities about this prolonged fraud scheme but chose to remain silent so as to preserve his chance to one day become prime minister. Had the new PM said that, yes, he had heard rumours about these phoney advertising contracts and had broached the matter privately with the PM and asked him to look into it, I could live with Martin because now he is doing all the right things to mop up the mess and punish those involved and prevent it from happening so easily and flagantly next time around.

But I cannot and will not accept being lied to again by a Liberal leader, even one in Paul Martin who in so many ways is well qualified and well grounded to be a good PM.

If you, too, have been considering voting for Mr. Martin but are tired of being lied to constantly by Liberals on virtually everything - from election platforms to specific policies to operational waste and malfeasance to the rewriting of canadian political history - maybe it is time for you, too, to send Mr. Martin and his party a message by withdrawing your political support.

I hope other people will think seriously about this.

[Hugo]

Baron,

I understand your viewpoint and completely agree. Despite being a right-winger, I would rather have a trustworthy NDP government in power than a corrupt and pork-barrelling Liberal party. At least then I would know that my tax dollars were going somewhere other than Liberal party coffers or, worse yet, into private pockets.

I think this is disgusting, however, I expect that absolutely nothing will come of it. Chretien and his government were smeared over and over again with scandal after allegation after corruption. When the private jet purchases were initially made, for instance, the media raised a fuss and nobody cared. The Auberge Grand-Mere, the Fu brothers, Native Affairs, Chretien's private clinics, refusal to break off skiing to attend the funeral of another world leader, the TotalFinaElf/Saddam connection etc. have been going on seemingly forever, but nobody cares.

In Britain, where I am from, countless sex scandals in the Conservative Party definitely helped to topple them and helped Tony Blair's Labour Party to win a massive landslide back in 1997. However, in Canada, multiple corruption scandals (which I regard as being far worse than sex scandals) have failed to have any impact on the government.

Chretien lies over repealing GST, leans on bank managers for his friends, buys himself jets at taxpayer expense, takes bribes to influence a court, lies about Gulf II (said he didn't support it because it wasn't sanctioned by the UN - rubbish, he didn't support Gulf I either and it was sanctioned by the UN) and he gets re-elected, no problem, with a majority government.

I shall finish by quoting FastNed and Craig Read, of this forum: "Sheep will be fleeced" and "Canada has exactly the kind of government it deserves."

Oh, and just so Chretien doesn't sue me (he can afford lawyers of far greater calibre than I), let me just add "allegedly" to all that I've said.

[Michael Hardner]

If the totally unqualified little rich girl becomes leader, then I shall for the first time ever (I've been voting since 1965) not vote.

FYI. A more noteworthy form of protest, for those who are interested, is to refuse your ballot. I believe that refused ballots are tallied separately from spoiled ballots. It takes a little longer than spoiling your ballot, (or than not voting) and it can try the nerves of unsuspecting poll captains (this can be fun too, though) but it's more civic-minded than staying home.

[The Baron of Banality]

Michael Hardner,Feb 11 2004, 06:15 PM] FYI.  A more noteworthy form of protest, for those who are interested, is to refuse your ballot.

- MH - Good point!