Friday November 27, 2009

Toronto's City Hall wastes over $150,000 per year on its cable bills. Indeed, the true amount of waste cannot even be calculated, as there are no uniform records to consult.  Auditor General Jeff Griffiths found that "a formal inventory list of television cable service plans does not exist" and the city doesn't track who has high-end packages, or whether they need them. Ouch!

Tuesday November 24, 2009

Regardless of one's opinions regarding the associated costs of hosting the Olympics in Canada, our government's responsibility to disclose the actual costs of the event should be absolute. Unfortunately, this is not the case in B.C. where many costs are being hidden from the public. Most notable in this field of hidden costs? The B.C. Olympic Games Secratariat, with operating costs of $40.7. Most puzzling of all, perhaps, is how the government will justify the exclusion of these costs from their tally of Olympic expenditures. Ouch!

Friday November 20, 2009

Canada's CANDU nuclear reactor technology is becoming more and more difficult to sell on the international market. Our aging technology relies on heavy-water, whereas newer technology is much more in demand. Canada, however, has continued to support this sector through the AECL. At a time when our economic fortunes would be better served by selling off AECL and its assets, the federal government continues to support this declining technology.  Furthermore, Canadian society will continue to suffer because the federal government aims to purchase two new CANDU reactors despite the existence of cleaner, more efficient, and cheaper technologies. Ouch!

Wednesday November 18, 2009

Canada's national debt is set to reach the $500-billion mark, a feat previously accomplished only by Jean Chretien. Stimulus spending due to the recession is one justification for the increased debt-load, however this only tells part of the story. Indeed, Conservative program spending was on the rise even before the 2008 recession. To snap themselves back on track, Conservative MPs are beginning to mutter that even Paul Martin managed to reduce our national debt. Ouch!

Monday November 16, 2009

Recent documents tabled in the House of Commons outline both the curious and the outright inappropriate spending of our federal civil servants. Alcohol, which is something many tax-payers would be surprised to find out they pay for, totaled $168,873 for the 2008/2009 fiscal year. This figure does not include alcohol purchased for resale to the public, such as the purchases by Via Rail or the National Arts Centre. Our government at work. Ouch!

Thursday November 12, 2009

Perhaps unfazed by his party's dismal performance in four key by-elections, Michael Ignatieff has already started announcing his spending priorities as if 24 Sussex is his domain. Despite his almost comical disconnection from the will of the Canadian public, it is Ignatieff's pet-spending projects that have provoked this 'Ouch!' Ignatieff seeks to double the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $360 million and to bankroll the CBC-Radio Canada, who budgetary needs escalate on an almost daily basis. Ouch!

Monday November 9, 2009

Canada's federal government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars subsidizing the production of ethanol and providing rebates for the purchase of cars capable of running on E85 fuel. The government has even upgraded significant portions of its motor vehicles to those that run on E85. Unfortunately, there are only four gas stations in the country that sell E85 gasoline! This means that these vehicles do nothing to reduce greenhouse gases, despite their premium price-tag. Furthermore, the exorbitant sums of money spent subsidizing the ethanol industry have yielded no benefit to tax-payers. Ouch!

Thursday November 5, 2009

The long-gun registry may be on its way to the scrap heap after yesterday's vote in the House of Commons. With several opposition MPs voting with Conservative MP Candice Hoeppner's private member's bill, the matter has now been sent to committee. Though surely a step in the right direction, the 'billion dollar boondoggle' of the long gun registry cannot be undone. Let us hope that better value for our tax dollars is on the horizon. Ouch!

Tuesday November 3, 2009

Canada's parliamentary budget officer is responsible for overseeing the federal budget and increasing transparency in government.  Initiated by Stephen Harper's government only two years ago, the budget officer has now been denied the majority of its funding. Some feel that the budget officer is being politically targeted because its forecasts are often more pessimistic than those of the government. It is exceedingly wasteful, however, to fund the creation of a new agency and then handicap its ability to produce results. Ouch!

Monday November 2, 2009

Despite the shortage in supply of H1N1 vaccinations, Hedy Fry Liberal MP for Vancouver Centre feels that priority should be given to... our federal government employees. Fry supports the controversial establishment of a Parliament Hill vaccination clinic based on the opinion that MP's are required to 'shake hands' with many people during a typical day. Though our MP's perform an essential task, their risk of infection is relatively minimal when compared to the exposure faced in almost every other sector of our economy. OUCH!