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| BLAST AWAY, PAUL - Thursday, November 27, 2003 at 12:23 |
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PUBLICATION: The Calgary Sun ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For many Canadians, the word boondoggle has become synonymous with Human Resources Development Canada. That's the department which was the subject of an incriminating audit that exposed $1 billion of dubious spending -- much of it in Liberal ridings. The Opposition quickly seized on the expression "billion-dollar boondoggle" to sum up the wasteful, patronage-laden spending habits of the regime of outgoing prime minister Jean Chretien. The allegations shocked taxpayers, but didn't phase Chretien, who just shrugged and patted HRDC minister Jane Stewart on the back. Now, according to news reports, incoming PM Paul Martin plans to dismantle this unwieldy monument to free-spending and patronage. Taxpayers might be inclined to greet these reports with relief, but that's only the good news. The bad news is Martin is also contemplating the creation of a new Homeland Security department, which would oversee Canada Customs, the Coast Guard, RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. While we would never understate the importance of security, the creation of a whole new layer of bureaucracy must be greeted with skepticism. By all accounts, the creation of the Homeland Security Office in the U.S. has proven a minor disaster in its own right. Instead of streamlining security procedures and intelligence across a broad range of government departments in that country, it has created a nightmare of inefficiency and wasteful spending. Martin would do well to bear that in mind as he makes plans for a major restructuring of our federal bureaucracy. After all, Canada already has a federal police force -- the RCMP -- in place, and our federal agencies have earned a reputation for working together in times of emergency. We don't want to see one boondoggle dismantled only to be replaced by another. While Martin is boondoggle-blasting, he should take aim at the wasteful and impotent firearm registry, which is poised to become yet another billion-dollar weight around the necks of weary and overburdened Canadian taxpayers. |