Petition to the Liberal Party calling on the Liberal Party to have a independent forensic audit done on its finances and to return to the government any questionable donations received via the Sponsorship program.
Voters are looking to punish the Liberal party for wasting hundreds of millions of tax dollars and breaking their trust. In the past, whenever a scandal erupted in Ottawa - over say HRDC misplacing $1-billion or the cost of the gun registry jumping from $2-million to well over $1-billion - Liberals could claim they were acting in the best interest of all Canadians although mistakes were made. This will not wash with Adscam and the party might well be drummed from office - and rightly so.
But if voters opt for a change in government, Canadians have few guarantees the next bunch of rascals will behave any better. And if the Grits manage to hang on - with New Democratic Party support - malfeasance will likely continue under the existing system.
Canada's Parliament is in need of an overhaul. A long string of spending scandals and audits reveal there is a systemic lack of accountability. Taxpayers are too familiar with the headline-grabbing stories of financial irregularities reported by Canada's auditor-general. But other inspections are no less damning. A December 2004 audit of Canada Revenue Agency, reported by Canadian Press, revealed a casual attitude towards protecting taxpayers and their tax data. Most alarming are four computers stolen in 2003 from a tax office, which contain information on 120,000 Canadians, including their social insurance numbers.
Canadians need a permanent system - beyond ejecting one party from office for another - to ensure greater oversight of lawmakers. Allowing more free votes, vetting major appointments to heads of Crown corporations and agencies is a start, but additional reforms are necessary.
A good start is to hand the auditor-general greater oversight powers. Crown corporations as well as the foundations tasked with spending $9-billion of tax money cannot be inspected by the auditor or even our parliamentarians. At least $7-billion is sitting in foundation bank accounts, yet no one in the Government of Canada can access the funds or review how it is spent. Likewise, Parliament must pass a whistleblower law to protect civil servants who reveal government waste or corruption from retribution by senior officials.
The many shortcomings of Ottawa's Access to Information laws must be strengthened to include a large swath of government activity currently exempt from scrutiny. Canada's freedom of information laws were introduced in 1985 and designed to ensure the government is open and transparent. They are the citizens' tools to enquire how tax money is being spent. Yet this principle is being eroded as information requests are routinely rejected. Bombardier has received $772-million since 1982 in direct government aid, yet Ottawa refuses to report the aerospace company's repayment record. So-called third party exemptions have placed 15 billion tax dollars beyond taxpayers' prying eyes.
Another route to end the log rolling relationship between politicians and industry is to stop the practice of subsidizing companies. "No More Boondoggles" legislation will end corporate welfare and ensure politicians focus on fostering a sound economy, and not pick economic winners and losers with handouts.
It is absurd that of Canada's 413 federal lawmakers - 105 Senate seats and 308 seats in the House of Commons - fully 25% are appointed, not elected. The Red Chamber must be reformed in a manner that gives Canadians, and not politicians, the power through direct elections to decide who will write and pass laws. Failing this, the Senate should be abolished. Recall and citizen initiated-referenda are similarly needed, as are changes to the voting system that ensure 39% of the vote does not translate into a majority government with 100% of the power.
These reforms will not stamp out government corruption, but they will improve the political system. Stronger taxpayer protection laws are an internal watchdog on politicians and bureaucrats who are tempted to believe they can spend tax money any way they wish.