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COPYRIGHT 2006 Canada & the World
The infamous Sponsorship Program ran for ten years. It cost taxpayers about $330 million, of which $147 million went to communication and advertising agencies for fees and commissions. Some of the money was stolen but, because the thieves didn't leave a paper trail of their activities, nobody knows the full scale of the crime. One guess is that about $45 million vanished improperly, and the government is trying to get it back from some of those who benefitted from the program.
We do know that:
* Public Works Canada paid Groupaction of Montreal $550,000 for a report that nobody has ever found a copy of;
* Auditor General Sheila Fraser said in February, 2004 that $100 million had been paid to consultants with close ties to the Liberal Party;
* Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien's office ordered maple-leaf neckties through Pluridesign Canada, a company owned by his close friend and Quebec Liberal Party organizer Jacques Corriveau. The ties cost $46,000 plus a commission of $13,000;
* Advertising executive Jean Brault admitted giving more than $1 million in cash, disguised by phony invoices, to Liberal Party organizers; and,
* The Gomery Inquiry, into the Sponsorship Program found that the bureaucrat in charge of it, Chuck Guite, received contracts worth $1 million after he retired. The contracts came from companies with whom Mr. Guite had placed sponsorship business.
However, despite the scores of business people, politicians, and civil servants involved only two people, advertising executives Paul Coffin and Jean Brault, have admitted guilt.
No one else seems to be accountable. And, that's what gets everybody bent out of shape.
The Parliament of Canada is supposed to stop this sort of thing from happening. Of course, with the Sponsorship Program a cloak of secrecy was thrown over the whole thing to keep Parliament from finding out about it. The schemers behind the plan exploited a grey area of accountability at the highest levels of the government structure.
At the top of the management pyramid in each government department are the Minister and Deputy Minister. The Minister, who is answerable for his or her actions in the House of Commons, is an elected Member of Parliament (There are rare exceptions such as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's appointment of Michael Fortier as Minister of Public Works after he was given a seat in the Senate.)
The Deputy Minister is appointed not elected. The Prime Minister has the sole power to hire and fire deputy ministers, based on the advice of his or her staff. The Deputy Minister is supposed to be politically neutral and is responsible for ensuring the proper functioning of department staff. Deputy Ministers are almost always career public servants who have shown a high...
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