Shorter MacKay: The AG says potato and I say potahto but it all adds up to F35reedom fries!

Peter MacKay continues to deny that he or his department did anything wrong, even as he agrees with the Auditor-General that more oversight is needed. This week he is chalking up the missing $10 billion (in his F-35 fighter jet cost estimate) to a disparity in accounting practices. MacKay wants Canadians visualizing slightly different, but equally legitimate accounting formulas.

Only this scandal is not about accounting, it’s about accountability.

Critics suggest MacKay is either ignorant of procedural policy or chose to ignore it. But it’s becoming clear neither of these are true.

…the government kept two sets of books on the project, one for private purposes showing the cost as $25 billion, the other for public purposes putting it at $15 billion…

and, although

…it is possible that a minister could be so ill-briefed that he would never have heard of “life cycle costing,” though the concept has been around for decades; that he would not know it was the standard, not only at Treasury Board, but across NATO. And I suppose it is possible for a government to be so confused that it would both apply and not apply the concept at the same time, particularly if it was unclear that this was something that was required of it, rather than simply good practice.

…it is not possible to believe this, once you understand that in fact there is no difference of opinion: that the policy of accounting for all the lifetime costs of an asset, without exception, is not some crazy invention of the auditor general’s, or some musty Treasury Board guideline. It is the publicly stated policy of the Department of National Defence — the department of which, if memory serves, MacKay is the minister. The policy the minister sees fit to ridicule is, according to conventional constitutional doctrine, his policy. (Andrew Coyne, Ottawa Citizen, April 11).

Must read/must listen to media items.

Coyne: The F-35 scandal — when governments lie, how do we respond? (as cited above)

and

The Current on the F-35 Fighter Jets: Buried in the story of the cost of F-35 fighter jets is…the intricate web of development and business that has already been spun into the procurement of these planes….Today, we’re asking if the fighter jet procurement is simply too big to fail.

The interviews give the impression the F35 is to MacKay et al what a video game is to a teenager. Something shiny, bright, and new. ‘Awesome’ entertainment. Nothing of substance is offered, not even a half-baked rationale.  At a time when government departments and regulatory processes are being gutted because of an alleged lack of revenue, you’d think they’d try harder to sell this turkey.

MacKay is asking us to trust him on the F35 despite the Pentagon’s serious misgivings and MacKay’s failure to be accountable and transparent on the true cost – a cost he was fully aware of.  The timing couldn’t be worse, too, considering Harper is asking ordinary citizens to swallow an austerity budget that guts essential services, programs, and thousands of  jobs.  Harper is making massive cuts across the board to  government, including the military, Veterans Affairs, and the border service.  Harper is even cutting Canada’s air defense system, largely eliminating the air defence capability in the Canadian Forces.  Go figure.

Peter MacKay and Stephen Harper know $10 billion isn’t chump change, which is why they misrepresented the true cost to the public and Parliament. They knew most of us wouldn’t go along with an expenditure they can’t justify when they are cutting everything from food safety, to environmental oversight, to pensions.

More election violations surface

Tories may have broken 2011 election rules with US Republican campaigners in Ontario

Front Porch Strategies, a Republican-tied U.S. firm, was hired by 14 Conservative campaigns to go door-to-door during the 2011 election; an apparent violation of the Canada Election Act which bars foreign political involvement.

This speaks volumes about the alleged – by Harper et al – grassroots popularity of reform Conservatives. They have to import foreign wingnuts because there is an insufficient number here to campaign for them?

Although Front Porch has not been linked to any illegal phone calls or robocalls made in the last election, citizens in both Fantino and Dykstra’s ridings have reported irregularities in the campaigns. Those allegations include reported misleading calls in Dykstra’s riding (St. Catherines).

Under the Canada Elections Act section 331 (Non-interference by Foreigners), it is illegal for a non-resident to directly participate in election campaigns in Canada:

“No person who does not reside in Canada shall, during an election period, in any way induce electors to vote or refrain from voting or vote or refrain from voting for a particular candidate unless the person is (a) a Canadian citizen; or (b) a permanent resident.”

If the violation was intentional, the offence carries a summary conviction, according to the Act.

Further…

[Front Porch] and its staff have numerous ties to Republican election campaigns, as well as Evangelical Christian groups and anti-abortion campaigns in the U.S.

The firm boasts a number of GOP congressional election campaigns under its belt.

Read the whole shameful story.

A quick question about those federal cuts…

Harper created four agencies and at least three of them are a complete waste of money.  One has even been scrapped (see number 2) but its chief exec continues being “funded”.  Think Milton but with much nicer digs and ON the payroll.

1. The Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (created by Harper in 2008).

   The agency was set up to perform three functions: set annual employment insurance contribution rates,  invest any EI surplus, and manage contingency funds. But Harper capped contribution rates, nixing that duty; and there has been no surplus to invest and no contingency funds to manage. So far, this waste of space has spent more than $3.3 million for new offices, computers and furniture, high-priced execs, consultants and other staff, travel budgets, expense accounts, and board meetings.  Yet it has nothing to do. “Its published budget for 2011-12 includes giving everyone raises, and moving the entire agency into new offices — all at an expected cost of $1.8 million.”

   “Compensation costs include stipends and expenses for the seven appointed board members, and $244,000 for a couple of executives. The agency’s executive director, retired senior public servant Phil Charko, is being paid about $150,000 a year to work part time. The budget provides another $200,000 to pay an investment manager if the agency ever has any money to invest. Another $300,000 is budgeted for additional corporate services such as IT management, human resources management, and translation services.” EI financing agency spends millions doing nothing, CBC, Jan 19, 2012

2. Public Appointments Commission Secretariat (created by Harper in 2006)

   “The Public Appointments Commission Secretariat was originally set up to support a commission to oversee hiring processes in Ottawa, a centerpiece of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s accountability policy. When opposition parties blocked the appointment of the first Public Appointments commissioner, Harper scrapped the commission entirely. But the secretariat lives on with an annual budget of more than a million dollars. By fall of [2011], government documents show the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat had spent just over $2.5 million in donated federal services and cash.“ Should the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat be scrapped?, CBC, Jan 27, 2012

3. The Office of the Extractive Sector Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor (created by Harper in 2011)

   “A mining watchdog agency that was supposed to hold Canadian companies accountable for their actions overseas has done little to protect communities abroad, critics say. In October 2009, the federal government appointed a corporate social responsibility counsellor to probe complaints about Canadian companies committing abuses in developing countries. The Toronto-based office…has received two complaints in the past two years — one of which was recently dropped because the mining corporation chose not to undergo the voluntary investigation.” Mining watchdog agency called ‘bogus PR job’, CBC, Nov 1, 2011

4. The Office of Religious Freedom (created by socially conservative Christian right wing Harper in 2011)
   An $5 million a year agency to be located in the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa. Harper said its task would be threefold:
   -  Monitor religious freedom around the world;
   - Promote religious freedom as a key objective of Canadian foreign policy;
   - Advance policies and programs that support religious freedom around the world.Separation of Church and State is old skool!

Harper is cutting 19,000 federal jobs and gutting every agency and department under the sun.  How are these four faring? Anyone know?