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| Suing the ministers & deputies behind the registry - Friday, October 31, 2003 at 13:36 |
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PUBLICATION: National Post ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some of my best friends are lawyers, but they should be banned from running for political office. That's because they have a conflict of interest. They have always had conflicts, but nowhere has this recently become more apparent than in the uneven manner in which new governance rules are being imposed on corporations but not on governments. CEOs and CFOs must personally sign off on their audited statements and shareholders now have a right to more disclosure. They also have a greater ability to sue directors and officers of companies and a right to more independent auditing procedures and boards. But these new corporate rules stop short for lawyers, even though behind many a sleazy deal are some crooked or unethical lawyers who are usually happy, for a fee, to "paper" any transaction. This lapse is due to the fact most politicians in both Canada and the U.S. are lawyers. They think nothing of stripping accountants of their self-regulation privileges, but not lawyers. The failure to protect taxpayers to the same extent as shareholders has turned Ottawa into the Enron of governments. Ottawa is where taxpayers see $35-million disappear into the budget of a has-been broadcaster and patronage appointee like Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to send her, the hubby and assorted friends on whirlwind tours without justification. Ottawa is where the Prime Minister can direct shockingly disproportionate amounts of cash to his backwater riding and where he can spend $100-million buying planes from his favourite corporate welfare bum, Bombardier Inc., without following bidding procedures and the advice of civil servants. It's where hapless ministers like Allan Rock can keep their jobs even though they accept gifts from corporations that snack off taxpayers and where the minister or deputy minister responsible for hiring and/or supervising the likes of George Radwansky and countless others never lose their jobs. Clearly, laws must require governments to behave like corporations now must. Here's a few suggestions: 1. The public should be able to sue politicians and civil servants. A few obvious cases could involve suing the ministers and deputies behind the gun registry madness. 2. Lawyers should be banned from running for public office or limited in number to their proportion of the population at large. They can be consultants to lawmakers, but they cannot be in charge of lawmaking because lawyer-politicians have come from practices or are going back. This means they have former partners or future partners to curry favour with, as well as former and future clients. 3. Lawyers, like auditors, should be stripped of the right to self-regulate and should answer to a publicly appointed board consisting solely of lay persons. 4. The auditor general should have sweeping powers to fire and sue, on behalf of taxpayers, any minister, deputy minister or prime minister responsible for mismanagement or waste. The auditor general should also be able to audit any Crown corporation, agency or "foundation" in which the government is involved. 5. Prime ministers and premiers, plus their Cabinets, should have to sign off on the financial statements of their governments and provide proper disclosure. If the books are cooked, promises broken or statements inaccurate, they should be dismissed and held personally liable for damages. 6. A category of "related-party transactions" as exists in the corporate world should be published quarterly by governments. Entries would read: $20-million for Sheila Copps' riding; $18-million for Jean Chretien's; $15-million for Paul Martin's, etc. You get the drift. 7. Canada should become an income trust to keep the managements' paws away from tax money. This is critical in the case of so-called budget surpluses, which are really tax overpayments. Governments always keep these monies, but these should be considered profits and be automatically paid out to taxpayers as dividends. 8. The auditing function should be entirely independent. There should be a public advocacy auditors general for each and every government and department. These persons should be elected by voters and run on platforms of fiscal integrity and accountability. Until these and other reforms happen (e-mail me your suggestions for future columns), Ottawa and most provinces and municipalities will be largely run by lawyers feathering their own nests or future nests, who have neatly made themselves exempt from the liability, responsibility or accountability they require of others.
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