Canadian Government: what the hell is going on?

It’s been a while since I did one of these. I think that twitter got the best of me; anyway, here goes.

Over the last few months I’ve been commenting on the state of government on both sides of the border. Whether its municipal, provincial, or federal government it seems to have lost its way. Take a simple thing like “The Big Dig” in Ottawa. They planned for years to start this project (citywide light rail transit) and did absolutely nothing to accommodate drivers. The one reason given for the project in the first place is the congestion in the core, and yet nothing was planned for said drivers. Forget the fact that we spend tens of millions of dollars for planners, surveys, contractors, and communications people to work theses things out; its as if the car does not fit the government’s agenda, so lets not do anything to help them through the construction. Of course the popular theory is that nothing was done so people would be forced onto transit. Forget that we live in the 2^nd coldest capital on the planet thus rendering bicycles (the city’s choice for transit) useless six months of the year. Forget that they are building a tunnel without planning how to extend the route east and west. Does anyone see a pattern forming?

           

The provincial government is building power systems that have been rejected by EU countries as too expensive and too inefficient to continue. The money that’s being wasted on these projects is supposed to be going into healthcare, yet they cut physio to the elderly. It’s so bad that the upper echelon has erased the email records of the gas plant projects to seemingly protect themselves. Have you wondered where the emails for all the other scandals went, too? I have.

 

We have the government in the US embroiled in scandal after scandal that may be affecting the constitution itself. The document that is the basis for what is arguably the most successful country on earth. What is going on?

 

It seems that governments, in a bid to be kept in power, have sacrificed the needs of the people to further that agenda. Right or wrong, many citizens are coming to realize this.

 

Take the wind power program. Whether you believe in it or not, the thing is just too damned expensive. So what do you do if you have to feed the family? Do you sell the Porsche or do you ask the kids for their allowances to keep it? The government chooses to keep taking the allowance, cutting medical, increasing the cost of electricity, water, heat, all the things we need to survive just to keep the Porsche.

 

The worst part is that all levels have bought into the Leader Syndrome. You made me the leader so I know better than all of you. And you gave me this power for 4 years so I can do anything I want with impunity. 100 years ago, having 4 years to work your agenda seemed short but with today’s technology and legal system its amazing what can happen. The final straw is that the promises they give to get elected can be utterly ignored and a new agenda put in place that had nothing to do with the reason we elected them in the first place.

So what’s the answer? Well it’s simpler than you think. First: hold all prospective leaders accountable to their promises and their agenda. Make it law. Number two: build recall legislation to remove said leaders should they not follow rule one.  No more nonsense about “we didn’t know the country was broke” or “we promised but now we know better” we hold them to their promises. And if the country is broke and the previous government lied, then they are held legally accountable. (Now, if war breaks out or emergencies take place, there would be flexibility. Common sense flexibility.) Finally: the books and the contracts of all projects are made available to everyone. No more secret deals. If you want to do business with the big boys, open the books to prove you are worth it. Now this is the money contracts I’m referring to, not technology and patents that are protected. (Again, common sense.) The books need to be fully open to see how they spend our money. Believe me there are plenty of brilliant people who can hold the government to account. This will be painful at first (for governments) because they have built the way they do business on secrecy. But in the long run common sense will prevail. Think about it like a bank loan. You have to prove the project is viable before you get the money, right?

 

What do you think? What would you do if you were given the power over the special interest groups that drive today’s agenda and could introduce them to common sense? What would you do?