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National Post (Canada)
April 29 2004
Two good things Martin has done
William Watson
National Post
One of the perils of column-writing is that you end up being so
negative. The world is imperfect and unless you're a real
conservative and merely weave variations on that theme, you always
end up complaining about how the people in charge are never doing
enough to make it better.
This corner has been pretty hard on the new Prime Minister and the
unflattering combination of oversold expectations and modest delivery
that has characterized his first trimester in office. Actually, for a
Liberal, immodest delivery would probably involve lots of new
government interventions that wouldn't do any good, so modest
delivery is good, a quiet budget a victory. It's the juxtaposition
with the heroic self-hype that's irritating. "The last guy, simple
pol, was a plodding manager. Our guy, visionary Paul, will bring
new-age politics." Personally, I hope the expectations deflate to
match the achievements, rather than the initiatives multiply to fill
the hype.
That said, on two files Paul Martin has improved things. The first is
expense accounts, the second free votes.
As the Post's Julie Smyth wrote in a terrific piece last Saturday --
it might have been called "Someone is killing the great restaurants
of Ottawa" except that no one would buy "Ottawa" and "great
restaurants" in the same head -- the government's decision to post
senior officials' quarterly expense account reports on the Web has
caused a serious recession in Ottawa's upper-end restaurant business.
Good! Trouble for the restaurants is great news for taxpayers.
I don't know what it costs to put expense accounts on the Web. The
information has to be compiled anyway, so perhaps not too much. But
whatever it is it sure looks like money well spent. Google "Treasury
Board Canada" and once you're there click on "Disclosure of Travel
and Hospitality Expenses." That gives you your choice of several
dozen departments and agencies. In the Department of Finance alone,
you get reports on 42 officials, from the Minister on down. (Seven
show no expenses. Bravo!) One guy I know lists accommodation expenses
for a night in Toronto at $50. He's clearly giving good value. I want
to know where he stays and how sociable the cockroaches are.
A drawback to the system is that you have to go official by official:
There's no handy file you can scroll through to see all a
department's quarterly accounts. But, hey, this is just the first
posting. A visit to the Web sites of the Privacy Commissioner and the
Head of the Canada Industrial Relations Board, former homes of two
notorious over-spenders, suggests the current incumbents are well
under control. True, one lunch cost Jennifer Stoddart, George
Radwanski's replacement as Privacy Commissioner, $237.54. On the
other hand, it was lunch for 30.
Linux does open-source software, where programmers from around the
world e-mail in improvements. Publishing public servants' expense
accounts may give us open-source government. Anyone whose expenses
get out of line can expect to get e-mails from citizens -- with
copies to the Prime Minister. Looks to me like Telefilm Canada may be
first in line. A February dinner between its executive director and a
CBC exec cost $286.54.
Who knows? Private corporations might even follow Ottawa's lead. If
executives had to post their expenses in anything close to real time,
shareholders could help enforce cost control.
A second good thing Paul Martin has done is allow more free votes in
the House of Commons. Mind you, one early test was a flop. The House
wasted its time debating and voting on whether the unpleasantness in
Asia Minor 80 plus years ago constituted an attempted genocide of
Armenians by Turks. Of all the questions that might come before our
elected representatives, this has got to be the least important. On
the other hand, given what the House might have been doing instead --
see "rampant interventionism," above -- perhaps history seminars
aren't a bad idea. If Parliament does take over history, the granting
agencies can stop funding historians, which will help cut the
national debt.
Though it's hard to understand why the House might think the world
would care, it decided by 153 to 68 that the genocide had it. Apart
from its utter fatuousness, the vote had harmful real-world
consequences when the Turkish government called in our ambassador in
Ankara to protest. We shall see if the Turkish parliament passes any
resolutions condemning the expulsion of the Acadians or the interning
of Japanese-Canadians. Turkey buys less than one one-thousandth of
our exports, but it hardly pays to go about annoying countries at
random.
You might think the House's fumbled intervention into foreign policy
a good reason for going back to un-free votes. I prefer to see it as
a learning experience. Backbenchers, like children, won't become
responsible without being given real responsibility. The next time
one of these motions comes before it, the House may think twice about
its possible consequences.
I don't want to get carried away with non-negativity. These two
improvements to an imperfect world were probably stolen from the
Conservatives, who would obviously continue them. But improvements
they are and for that Mr. Martin deserves credit.
April 29 2004
Two good things Martin has done
William Watson
National Post
One of the perils of column-writing is that you end up being so
negative. The world is imperfect and unless you're a real
conservative and merely weave variations on that theme, you always
end up complaining about how the people in charge are never doing
enough to make it better.
This corner has been pretty hard on the new Prime Minister and the
unflattering combination of oversold expectations and modest delivery
that has characterized his first trimester in office. Actually, for a
Liberal, immodest delivery would probably involve lots of new
government interventions that wouldn't do any good, so modest
delivery is good, a quiet budget a victory. It's the juxtaposition
with the heroic self-hype that's irritating. "The last guy, simple
pol, was a plodding manager. Our guy, visionary Paul, will bring
new-age politics." Personally, I hope the expectations deflate to
match the achievements, rather than the initiatives multiply to fill
the hype.
That said, on two files Paul Martin has improved things. The first is
expense accounts, the second free votes.
As the Post's Julie Smyth wrote in a terrific piece last Saturday --
it might have been called "Someone is killing the great restaurants
of Ottawa" except that no one would buy "Ottawa" and "great
restaurants" in the same head -- the government's decision to post
senior officials' quarterly expense account reports on the Web has
caused a serious recession in Ottawa's upper-end restaurant business.
Good! Trouble for the restaurants is great news for taxpayers.
I don't know what it costs to put expense accounts on the Web. The
information has to be compiled anyway, so perhaps not too much. But
whatever it is it sure looks like money well spent. Google "Treasury
Board Canada" and once you're there click on "Disclosure of Travel
and Hospitality Expenses." That gives you your choice of several
dozen departments and agencies. In the Department of Finance alone,
you get reports on 42 officials, from the Minister on down. (Seven
show no expenses. Bravo!) One guy I know lists accommodation expenses
for a night in Toronto at $50. He's clearly giving good value. I want
to know where he stays and how sociable the cockroaches are.
A drawback to the system is that you have to go official by official:
There's no handy file you can scroll through to see all a
department's quarterly accounts. But, hey, this is just the first
posting. A visit to the Web sites of the Privacy Commissioner and the
Head of the Canada Industrial Relations Board, former homes of two
notorious over-spenders, suggests the current incumbents are well
under control. True, one lunch cost Jennifer Stoddart, George
Radwanski's replacement as Privacy Commissioner, $237.54. On the
other hand, it was lunch for 30.
Linux does open-source software, where programmers from around the
world e-mail in improvements. Publishing public servants' expense
accounts may give us open-source government. Anyone whose expenses
get out of line can expect to get e-mails from citizens -- with
copies to the Prime Minister. Looks to me like Telefilm Canada may be
first in line. A February dinner between its executive director and a
CBC exec cost $286.54.
Who knows? Private corporations might even follow Ottawa's lead. If
executives had to post their expenses in anything close to real time,
shareholders could help enforce cost control.
A second good thing Paul Martin has done is allow more free votes in
the House of Commons. Mind you, one early test was a flop. The House
wasted its time debating and voting on whether the unpleasantness in
Asia Minor 80 plus years ago constituted an attempted genocide of
Armenians by Turks. Of all the questions that might come before our
elected representatives, this has got to be the least important. On
the other hand, given what the House might have been doing instead --
see "rampant interventionism," above -- perhaps history seminars
aren't a bad idea. If Parliament does take over history, the granting
agencies can stop funding historians, which will help cut the
national debt.
Though it's hard to understand why the House might think the world
would care, it decided by 153 to 68 that the genocide had it. Apart
from its utter fatuousness, the vote had harmful real-world
consequences when the Turkish government called in our ambassador in
Ankara to protest. We shall see if the Turkish parliament passes any
resolutions condemning the expulsion of the Acadians or the interning
of Japanese-Canadians. Turkey buys less than one one-thousandth of
our exports, but it hardly pays to go about annoying countries at
random.
You might think the House's fumbled intervention into foreign policy
a good reason for going back to un-free votes. I prefer to see it as
a learning experience. Backbenchers, like children, won't become
responsible without being given real responsibility. The next time
one of these motions comes before it, the House may think twice about
its possible consequences.
I don't want to get carried away with non-negativity. These two
improvements to an imperfect world were probably stolen from the
Conservatives, who would obviously continue them. But improvements
they are and for that Mr. Martin deserves credit.