In the wake of the F35 boondoggle, The Globe and Mail reports this morning that the office of the Auditor General is cutting staff:
The Auditor-General’s office is cutting 10 per cent of its staff – or 60 jobs – and other parts of government are scrapping a wide range of reports to Parliament, according to the latest details on spending cuts provided by officials.
Along with a report on Wednesday that the Parliamentary Budget Office is receiving no information about government budget cuts, the Harper government's game plan seems pretty clear.
It's one thing to argue that the government has to economize. It's another thing, Jeffrey Simpson writes, to say that budget cuts will not affect Canadians:
Doubtless, efficiencies can be found and should be pursued. But there are not $4-billion of them to be found. Only if governments stop doing things can such sums be saved, which is what is happening, and will happen. But just what it will stop doing the government has refused to say.
As details trickle out, though, it's clear this government is wreaking vengeance on its enemies. It's the ultimate power trip -- playing God. So much for transparency. So much for accountability.
2 comments:
It's an attack on knowledge, whether it's giving citizens access to information about the state of the economy (including growing gap between rich and poor), the environmental impacts of resource exploitation projects, the validity of election results, or how well the government is managing expenditures. A well-informed public is considered an enemy of the state.
One of the cornerstones of the Harper government, Bejiing, is Ignorance is Strength.
It's classically Orwellian. And the results are predictable.
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