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CLARK’S CROSSING GAZETTE | THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014 PG. 6
Trudeau should keep Smart meter scandal looming for Wall Transparency Act What constitutes a political scandal is often in the eyes of the beholder.
By Colin Craig, Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation It’s a sad reality that many people living on aboriginal reserves have been bullied and harassed for asking questions about how public funds have been spent in their communities. A new law passed by the Harper government, the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, helps the grassroots as it now allows them to go on the Internet and anonymously review their politicians’ pay and look at their community’s financial statements. The law brought aboriginal politicians in-line with municipal, provincial and federal politicians who have done the same for years. Unfortunately, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau recently committed to scrap this new legislation if he becomes prime minister. Perhaps he doesn’t know the history behind the new bill and its importance to grassroots people living on many reserves. Back in 2009, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a donationbased taxpayers watchdog organization, reached a tipping point of sorts. We kept hearing similar stories from aboriginal people living on reserves: ‘I can’t find out how much my chief makes or see my community’s financial information.’ We asked those that brought concerns to our attention about the idea of placing each reserve’s information on the Internet just like off-reserve governments do. Ottawa already received each band’s financial information annually so posting the information could be done quite easily. The idea was a big hit. If information was posted online, people could review it anonymously and without fear of repercussions. Such a change wouldn’t address all the problems on reserves, but it would help everyone learn more about where the money was going. As we worked with grassroots band members to push for a new law to implement such a change, we heard plenty of sad stories from aboriginal people about being bullied for speaking out. A man from Quebec told us he received a death threat for asking questions in his community. A lady from Manitoba told us a family member had her post-secondary funding cut off. A woman from B.C. told us a whistleblower’s home mysteriously burnt down while she was out of town. Others told us it was common to have your home put to the bottom of the repair list or welfare cut if you spoke out. You could feel the lump in your throat as they told their stories. The tales we heard were simply unbecoming of a great nation like Canada. To be clear, not every reserve has the same problems. There are plenty of chiefs and councillors who are good, honest people who are working hard to help their citizens and are already transparent. These politicians, rightfully, don’t seem concerned about the new legislation at all. While some chiefs continue to complain about the new law, it has already proved it’s necessary. The new disclosure system recently exposed a chief from B.C. who received close to a million dollars last year tax-free. Even elected councilors on the reserve’s band council had no idea what was going on. One noted: “if it wasn’t for this new transparency act, I don’t think we ever would have known.” To be sure, the Harper government has made its share of mistakes. But if Mr. Trudeau reaches out to the grassroots living on some of the more troubled reserves, it should become clear to him that the First Nations Financial Transparency Act isn’t one of them.
MURRAY MANDRYK
Provincial Politics
Certainly, it’s not always about the money. By government spending standards, former Alberta premier Alison Redford’s flights of fancy at taxpayers’ expenses were hardly overwhelming. While extravagant and likely unnecessary, even Redford’s $45,000 trip to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s funeral was not justification for her resignation. Moreover, all politicians gild the lily a bit when it comes to the necessity of their travel. This seemed to be the case with the Saskatchewan Party government justifications for former social service minister June Draude’s trips last year to London and Ghana. To this day, Premier Brad Wall struggles to explain the value of the trip to Saskatchewan taxpayers. But Redford’s travel did become scandalous – and worthy of her resignation as an MLA and an RCMP probe – when the elements of personal gain and deceit came into play. Maybe Alberta taxpayers would have forgiven her, were this story simply about a political executive wrongly using a taxpayer-owned aircraft to taxi around her young daughter so that the two could be together. But the combination of the abuse and the deceit – falsifying passenger lists so that she could fly alone – was too much to bear. That said, personal gain for a politician is hardly the whole measure of scandal, either. No Saskatchewan NDP pol-
itician really benefitted from the $36-million failed foray into the potato business. Nevertheless, the magnitude of the public dollars loss combined with the deceit involved in suggesting this was a publicprivate partnership when it really wasn’t truly made Spudco a scandal. In fact, one might argue the Spudco was the scandal that cost the NDP government power, given that its defeat came at a time when the economy was starting to boom and Saskatchewan just surpassed the million-person barrier. However, as seems to have been the case with Redford and the Alberta Progressive Conservatives, an increasingly unpopular government suffered greatly by what has been termed a scandal. Of course, it would be wrong or, at least, premature to suggest Wall and his Saskatchewan Party government have been scandalized by the $47-million cost of installing
and uninstalling SaskPower smart meters after about nine have caught on fire. There is certainly no evidence of anyone’s personal gain. And while there is ample reason to question the competency of this decision, it’s so far not clear that any politician is to blame. In fact, credit Wall and SaskPower Bill Boyd for the tough decision to pull out the new smart meters – a costly exercise, but likely a prudent decision. Wall has even eagerly suggested that his government will try to recoup the cost from the manufacturer, although the manufacturer has quickly shot back that the problem isn’t with the product but its installation. But the old adage of ”where there’s smoke there`s fire” has never been quite so appropriate in what could be better described as a looming scandal for the Wall government. Make no mistake that the
$47-million pricetag for this exercise is scandalous. And, like Spudco, it is the politicians who we are ultimately responsible for the choices and decisions their appointees have made here. Someone in SaskPower authorized the contract to have an American-based company – one that did not necessarily use certified electricians – for this project. All decisions would have been submitted to senior SaskPower officials hired by government. And all such expenditures would have had to have been approved by the Crown utility’s board of directors who are all government appointees. So whether the installers or the manufacturers are the source of this now costly problem, it comes down to decisions made by those representing the government. Maybe we aren’t quite there yet, but this Smart meter mess sure has scandal potential.
Getting older means getting wiser with health and lifestyle I wish when I turned 40 that there was a manual. Kind of like a “Getting Old for Dummies” book that gave a breakdown of things like memory loss, decreased muscle strength and other tidbits of information that would send most people into a deep depression, or what is commonly known as mid-life crisis. No, I am not going to buy a Ferrari just yet. But I do find it intriguing how many trips I have made to the doctor over the last few months, which I’m not sure is a good thing or not.
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JAMES TARRANT
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About two months ago I found out I had sleep apnea. It is an affliction that causes you stop breathing during sleep. In the past, my friends have always told me that despite having a full night’s rest, I yawn too much during the day. There were also incidences where I felt like a scatter
brain. I couldn’t remember as well as well as I used to. I actually had one former editor say I had a memory like a goldfish. Some people call it “Sometimers”. Sometimes I remember. Sometimes I don’t. It was depressing. The ironic thing is that all those symptoms can be attributed to sleep apnea – including depression – which I am not ashamed to say I also have. When I first got tested for sleep apnea at the provincial sleep clinic last month I didn’t really think anything of it. I
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agreed to sleep with the monitor they gave me, not really expecting anything significant. I was pretty surprised to find out the results of my test showed that I stopped breathing nine times during my sleep and my oxygen levels during my sleep cycle dropped to 33 per cent. My diagnosis is considered mild compared to some people. I’m grateful that I have a significant other who was kind enough to tell me that I stopped breathing during my sleep. No, actually she was more freaked out by it when
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she walked into our bedroom when I was taking a nap one day and figured I was dead because of my shallow breathing. The point of my ramble is to not take your health for granted when turning the big 40 because it is usually the time where diseases start to gain momentum. In just over 30 days I discovered that I have a sleep condition I never knew I had. It now requires me to use a CPAP machine, which through the aid of a breathing mask pumps a continuous flow of
oxygen down my throat so my anodes don’t block off my airway. Sure, the mask and hose makes me look like an elephant and sound like Darth Vader, but who cares. At least I can lessen my chance of a heart attack or a stroke down the road. Here’s hoping my two ultrasounds coming up will yield positive results as well and shock me into staying consistent with regular physicals. I only have one life and I plan on enjoying this one for as long as I can.
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VOL. 6 NO. 52