The resignation by Ontario Citizenship and Immigration Minister Mike Colle (why does a province need a Citizenship and Immigration Minister?) followed a scathing report by Ontario’s Auditor General. This report was begrudgingly requested by Premier Dalton McGuinty after questions arose over the disbursement of about $32,000,000.00 in grants at the end of the last fiscal year.
These grants were given out “informally”, to put it kindly. More accurately, they were shovelled out, in the shadows, by a government trying to use up unspent tax dollars before a new fiscal year began. Normal granting procedures were not followed; no one knew about the availability of the funds, no one was able to apply, and there was no bureaucratic oversight of the disbursement of the funds.
The Toronto Star (27 July 2007) dealt with the scandal in its lead editorial wrote the following:
The difference between drunken sailors and this government is that the seamen on shore leave are generally spending their own earnings. The government does not seem to have any comprehension that the money is not theirs; it belongs to the taxpayers. In a government in which top, and even middle level civil servants earn in excess of $100,000.00 per year, our representatives seem acclimatized to stratospheric incomes. They have no idea how difficult it is, in the real world, to earn $100,000.00 per year (or $50,000.00, or even $30,000.00).
The Renaissance Man has a question for the government, and the Toronto Star. Why, when they realized that they had saved $32,000,000.00, did the government not regard this as something to publicly brag about? Why wasn’t this good news for the taxpayers for which they could try to grab some credit?
These grants were given out “informally”, to put it kindly. More accurately, they were shovelled out, in the shadows, by a government trying to use up unspent tax dollars before a new fiscal year began. Normal granting procedures were not followed; no one knew about the availability of the funds, no one was able to apply, and there was no bureaucratic oversight of the disbursement of the funds.
The Toronto Star (27 July 2007) dealt with the scandal in its lead editorial wrote the following:
As usual, in its effort to protect its favoured political party, The Star has either missed or fudged the real point. At its essence, this is not about the granting procedure, flawed (and potentially corrupt) as it was. It is about the attitude of the government about tax monies under its control. If there was $32,000,000.00 of extra money, the immediate reaction was not to save it, but to spend it as quickly as possible, like a bunch of drunken sailors.His initial failure to recognize that ad hoc distribution of tax dollars is
inexcusable and that taxpayers deserve full accounting and transparency into how
their money is spent was disturbing.The question now is whether McGuinty can assure voters that he has truly fixed the grants program – before they go to the polls in October.
The difference between drunken sailors and this government is that the seamen on shore leave are generally spending their own earnings. The government does not seem to have any comprehension that the money is not theirs; it belongs to the taxpayers. In a government in which top, and even middle level civil servants earn in excess of $100,000.00 per year, our representatives seem acclimatized to stratospheric incomes. They have no idea how difficult it is, in the real world, to earn $100,000.00 per year (or $50,000.00, or even $30,000.00).
The Renaissance Man has a question for the government, and the Toronto Star. Why, when they realized that they had saved $32,000,000.00, did the government not regard this as something to publicly brag about? Why wasn’t this good news for the taxpayers for which they could try to grab some credit?
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