Accountability
Posted on | October 21, 2005 |
NDP SHIELDING CROWN CORPORATIONS FROM PUBLIC SCRUTINY
The chief problem with the Doer government, amply illustrated by the
recent spate of provincial scandals, is that there is nobody to watch
the watchers. There is apparently nobody in the provincial government
with the clout - or the guts - to tell our Premier his government is on
the wrong track. What other explanation can there be, for instance, for
Crocus or for forced unionization on the floodway? Or the Seven Oaks
land deal? Or, for that matter, for Mackintosh’s bungling of the Hells
Angels trial a few years ago?
And then we have the provincial Crown corporations. During its time in
office, the NDP has for all practical purposes turned Crown corporations
into cookie jars for the provincial government. The Doer government,
for instance, has repeatedly raided Manitoba Hydro’s treasury to pay for
its spending programs. Even more blatantly, and incredibly, the
Doerites have allowed certain Crown corporations (notably MPIC) to
directly underwrite other government programs and agencies, and even to
pay the salaries of Ministerial staff. In terms of what we know, the
record of the provincial NDP on Crown corporations - and basic corporate
governance - is not good.
In terms of what we know. Of course, it is because of the Doer
government that we are limited in what we know. About a month ago, it
was revealed that the Crown Corporations Committee, the legislative
committee which oversees Crown corporations, has not met at all over the
past year. In an ideal world, the purpose of the Committee is to
convene on a regular basis to inspect the financial records of Crown
corporations and, if necessary, to call Crown corporation
representatives before the Committee for questioning. That’s the
theory. In actuality, the NDP has put the Committee to pasture. The
NDP majority in the Legislature has refused to convene the Committee for
any 2005 sittings, and the Committee met only four times in 2004. The
most recent report actually passed by the Committee was the 2001?02
report of the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission, and a number of Crown
corporations (notably MPIC and Workers Compensation) have not been asked
to appear before the Committee for over a year. So much for oversight
of Crown corporations.
What are we make of the fact that, at the same time that the Doer
government is stealthily involving itself in the finances of Crown
corporations, the NDP has basically ceased its legislative oversight of
Crown corporations? Although it is difficult to know the motives at
play here, it is just as difficult to believe in coincidences this
large. Opposition Leader Stuart Murray argues that the failure of the
NDP to exercise its oversight of Crown corporations is “a sign of a very
secretive government.” What is indisputable is that, for whatever
reason, the public is being kept in the dark. And there is a better
than average chance that, due to the provincial government’s
well-established habit of involving itself in the financial affairs of
provincial Crown corporations, this lack of oversight shields from
public scrutiny not only the Crown corporations, but the Doer government
as well.
Jeff Niederhoffer is a Winnipeg lawyer and political activist.
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