An article in the Vancouver Sun neatly though inexplicably (except to account for liberal agenda-driving) tucked away on no better than page D-6 of the Business section yesterday, addresses more of the lasting legacy of the yummy Liberal Party government. If instead the article addressed the legacy of, say, the size of Conservative Prime Minister Harper’s belly, or how Jerry Falwell outed an idiotic purple cartoon character named Tinky Winky (
Sponsorship scandal hurt Canada’s productivity, report claims
Eric Beauchesne, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, May 23, 2007
OTTAWA—Government corruption, specifically the Liberal government sponsorship scandal, is among the reasons Canada’s economic productivity has lagged behind other major industrial countries like the United States this decade, a national organization of accountants charges in a report being released Wednesday.
“Institutional corruption and inefficiency, particularly within government, has had a decidedly negative impact on productivity and competitiveness,” concludes the study by the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada, the first to cite government corruption in Canada as a cause.
[…]
The report cites the sponsorship scandal—along with excessive business regulation, as well as declines in investment in education, skills training, machinery and equipment—for Canada’s drop to 16th place in the Global Competitiveness Index in 2006 from ninth spot only four years earlier.
[…]
“When scandal erupts within the public sector, a number of side effects occur that negatively impact productivity and competitiveness,” it says.
“Firstly, public perception of the government is damaged, both domestically and internationally,” the report says, adding that this results in public demands for changes which in turn is followed by an increase in staff turnover and the related costs of recruiting and training of new officials.
“Secondly, a large number of resources are reallocated to less productive activities in the event of a scandal,” the accountants group says, noting that in the wake of the sponsorship scandal, millions of taxpayers dollars were diverted to its investigation, which was on top of the millions that were already lost in misappropriated revenues to advertising companies.
“The many hours and dollars lost to investigating and indicting government officials translate to lost productivity growth, a situation that could have been avoided through greater transparency and accountability within government,” the report says.
“In addition to the loss of millions of dollars, the federal government has also lost a considerable amount of approval, even within its own echelons.”
Liberal finance critic John McCallum said he wanted to see the full report before making any comment.
On the positive side, it says, there has been a move within the government to increase accountability and transparency, pointing to the introduction of the Federal Accountability Act, and measures to reduce inefficiency and waste in government spending.
[…]
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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