Monday, March 17, 2014

Kevin Page On Canada's 'Grotesquely Wrong Elites'



Former Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, about whom I have written many times on this blog, is without question one of Canada's true heroes. The reason? He insisted upon doing his job with the kind of thoroughness and integrity that exemplify the highest ideals of public service. Like Munir Sheikh, who resigned his position as head of Statistics Canada rather than allow the Harper government to use him to legitimize its abandonment of the mandatory long-form census, Page deserves our respect for fearlessness in exposing the lie that is our current regime.

Presumably, once his term ended last year, Page was expected by the Harper cabal to slowly fade away like any former government employee. Happily, that has not been the case as he continues to shine a very public light on the regime's abuses of democracy and criminal withholding of information that would allow our elected representatives to make informed decisions in Parliament.

In a very recent interview in The Tyee, Page shows that he is as concerned as ever about the concealment that has become the modus operandi of our current government. At the same time, he articulates what he sees as the main reasons his office fell into the cabal's cross-hairs.

I am reproducing but a small part of the interview here; I hope you will set aside a bit of time to peruse the entire piece.

Why is an office like the PBO necessary? Why does it matter to the good functioning of our democracy?

"In our Westminster parliamentary democracy, the 'power of the purse' rests with the House of Commons. No money should be spent or tax legislation changed unless the executive gets approval from the House of Commons. We want members of Parliament to have access to financial information before they vote. An independent PBO can help level the playing field between the executive/public service and the legislature with respect to access to financial information before money is authorized. Without this information -- there is no accountability. The system breaks down. The current system is badly broken. We do not have the necessary checks and balances in place. MPs are often forced to vote without the information it needs. MPs have lost the power of the purse. They need to regain it."

On the question of the relationship between Harper's budget-cutting and silencing his critics, Page has this to say:

"I am deeply concerned about the lack of transparency, analysis and debate on the choices and impact of government programs and operations that are being eliminated and scaled back in the name [of] deficit reduction. This includes reductions in spending to support information and knowledge at Environment Canada, Statistics Canada and elsewhere.

As a consequence of information being withheld, MPs are voting on departmental spending plans without the information they need to assess austerity impacts. We are closing veterans offices in the name of efficiency but spending more on recreation trails. MPs should debate these issues.

One of the most compelling parts of the interview, for me, was Page's explanation of how the PBO ran afoul of the Prime Minister and his operatives, providing, as it does, a further window into Harper's vindictive soul. It would seem that truth, to Dear Leader, is anathema:

1. A week before a government update that offered a rosy view of the economy, the PBO projected a recession and deficit. When it became apparent the world economy was in a recession, the opposition parties started talking of a coalition government. The prime minister quickly prorogued Parliament and came back with a new outlook and budget.

2. The PBO released a report in 2011 saying the cost of the F35 fighter planes were going to be significantly more expensive than indicated by the defence minister over its life cycle. Despite rabid denunciation of the Office by Harper and his acolytes, the Auditor General confirmed those numbers, suggesting the government had purposely misled the public.

3. Mr. Harper claimed that Old Age Security was unsustainable, and thus the age of eligibility was raised to age 67. The PBO, using similar numbers as the chief actuary, prepared annual long-term fiscal sustainability reports and indicated that the program was sustainable. Harper was caught in his lie a second time when the government released its own analyses and indicated that the federal fiscal structure was sustainable and since OAS was funded by general revenues, it too was sustainable before the government changed the age eligibility requirement."

All in all, a lot for an inflexible martinet to stomach, and hence the animus that persists to this day against Kevin Page.

4 comments:

  1. I suspect -- indeed, hope -- that Page will haunt the Harperites to end of their days, Lorne. It is a fate they richly deserve.

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    1. The indefatigabiity of people like Page will ensure that history is not easily rewritten when this hateful regime falls, Owen.

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  2. Thanks for that excellent Tyee link re Kevin Page ! Its heartening to follow such exemplars that shine despite the tainted and reckless actions of 'our' political parties.. Realistically, The Harper Party is not 'ours' .. but his.. just as our federal government is not ours, but Harper's only.

    I believe Kevin Page is too much a man of principal and thought, to truly condemn The Harper Government and PMO. I am not.

    I recently commented to Owen at Northern Reflections on how various federal Ministries are in lockstep, sabotaging the Canadian environment. I dream of the day when all the coordinated and related attacks upon Canada and Canadians by Stephen Harper are commonly acknowledged as his dark cowardly legacy.

    And I hope the complicity of Jim Flaherty, Keith Ashfield, Gail Shea, Gerry Ritz, Peter Kent, Leona Aglukkaq, Joe Oliver, Christy Clark, Alison Redford and the unelected complicits, Ray Novak, the PMO, Arthur Hamilton, Jenni Byrne etc get the dark recognition they so deserve.

    This just on environmental attacks, Canadians & their culture, our natural species and their related habitat.. on behalf of Big Carbon - Big Oil and others such as the Norwegian net pen commercial salmon industry based in Canada.

    It is shocking to sense the big picture of how this runaway government will attack The Charter, biology, democracy, fair elections, pensions, science, pontificate Harper ideology on Israel, obstruct & prorogue Parliament, mismanage procurement, support liars, threaten First Nations, subsidize resource stripping, spend millions on phony advertisements & attack ads and ignore Supreme Court rulings.. or use appeal and litigation to delay endlessly..

    And .. spy on ordinary and concerned Canadians ... and lie about doing so..
    while constantly whining to donors to support the party for its incredible achievements.. Pardon Me ???

    Finally .. we hear the press gallery in Ottawa will push back against 'the Harper government’s unprecedented and sweeping control over access to government officials and information' (Hill Times - Laura Ryckewaert)

    Well, press gallery.. welcome to Canada as any common sense person can recognize it today.. a country under dire and constant threat from within..
    by its own elected ignorant government and cowardly unelected senior public servants

    We need to turn our back on this toxic corporatist quasi political apparatus.. and walk away.. into a Canadian future that does not include Harper, his minions or his accomplices.. in short, we should cease to recognize him.. or his dangerous 'values'

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    1. As always, Salamander, your comments are well-considered and spot-on. Reading what I realize is only your partial litany of the Harper cabal's 'crimes', I am once more reminded of how far we have strayed from the ideals that traditionally have made Canada unique in the world.

      Like you, I live for better times that can only begin when our current political cancer is completely excised.

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