As Global News pointed out in a story yesterday, there are no less than two investigations ongoing regarding conflicts of interest by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau and a preliminary inquiry regarding the conduct of Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities Kent Hehr.
Our Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson has got her hands full at the moment it seems.
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Never mind the party this government represent,s because this sort of thing runs rampant in governments of all levels all across the country. NDP, Conservative, Liberal it doesn’t matter, things like this seem to come up with alarming regularity and the appalling thing about it? Most of us at this point just don’t seem to notice or even care that it’s going on. Dishonest politicians actually bank on that disdain from the public.
There’s something I always say when pushed into an argument like this, and here it is: Look at your last pay stub. Now look at how much money you’ve actually earned as opposed to how much you actually receive (gross vs net). Most of that is going to the government is some way shape or form, whether it’s tax, CPP contribution or what have you. Add that up over a year and imagine what you could have done with that cash.
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Now imagine the sales tax you pay on pretty much anything. Sure the price tag on the item says $23.99 but you’re actually paying another 13 per cent on top of that even more in other jurisdictions. Imagine that happens a few million times a day across the country.
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With all the taxes we pay is it so difficult to imagine we deserve honest people in positions of power to assign that money in such a way that we get value for it we can actually see? Is it also too much to ask that the people we put into power actually live up to the promises they’ve made and not find themselves tied up in some sort of ethics investigation?
I don’t think it is.
We found out in the Global News story yesterday that our Ethics Commissioner can’t put these people up on charges, she can’t even force them out of office. All she can do is fine them. The maximum is $500.
Yes seriously.
With that being said shouldn’t there be some sort of mechanism the people could use to force this sort of dishonesty out of politics? This sort of thing exists in the private world.
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Andrew Coyne columnist for the National Post wrote three years ago, “Bonded couriers, sworn affidavits, money-back guarantees: each involves the willing assumption of certain legal or financial consequences should a specific claim or promise prove false.
Is it so far-fetched to imagine devising some similar remedy for politics? Something with real teeth, but which politicians could opt into, at their discretion? Would the honest ones hesitate to do so (albeit with the same sorts of conditions and caveats that apply to private contracts)? And would those who refuse not have some questions to answer?”
They certainly would. I would submit that any elected official proven to be lying to the public should immediately be expelled from office with a by-election taking place shortly afterward. At any level of government.
Never mind these toothless “investigations.” Let’s get something in there that makes real sense and hold these people accountable once and for all.
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