by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
april 1, 2004
The odds that former Minister of Public Works, alfonso Gagliano, told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, when he testified about his knowledge of adscam before a Parliamentary committee are about as good as the odds that O.J. Simpson will find the real killers of Nicole and Ronald Goldman during his constant searches of golf courses. But if there is even a grain of truth in what Gagliano told the Pubic accounts Committee, this country is in a lot more trouble than we think.
Gagliano’s defense to the allegations of wrongdoing, in the eloquent words of a Toronto Sun reader’s letter to the editor, is that he was so busy being busy that he didn’t have time to do his job. The beleaguered former Minister was so busy going to meetings and presumably sitting in the House of Commons and attending rubber-chicken dinners that he just didn’t have any time to notice what was going on in his department.
alphonso Gagliano whimpered that he is just a poor victim in the scandal that saw about $100 million of taxpayers’ money funneled to Liberal-friendly advertising agencies in Quebec. Even though Paul Martin was Minister of Finance, Vice Chairman of the Treasury Board and a senior MP from Quebec during most of the Jean Chrétien years, he knew absolutely nothing about how any government monies were misspent. after all, he was only the Minister of Finance.
It’s long been known that bureaucrats play a large role behind the scenes and that Ministers of the Crown do not micro-manage their departments. If what alphonso Gagliano and Paul Martin are saying is true, then the government of Canada in being completely run by unelected public servants. If funds are misappropriated in one department but not another, it is because the bureaucrats in the latter department don’t want to engage in illegal activities. The role of the Minister in charge of the department appears not to be only decoration.
In his book, "Paul Martin: CEO for Canada?" author Murray Dobbin says that the cornerstone of Paul Martin’s policies as Minister of Finance, to balance the budget and pay down the debt were not Martin’s idea. When he assumed the portfolio in 1993 Martin wanted to grow the economy, the same strategy that had been employed by Michael Wilson when he was Finance Minister in the Mulroney government. attempts to grow the economy under the Tories resulted in higher deficits and an increase to the debt. according to Dobbin, the necessity of paying down the debt had to be explained to the new Finance Minister because Paul Martin, businessman extraordinaire, didn’t understand the notion of compound interest and its effect on the cost of borrowing.
Cabinet ministers love to take credit for accomplishments in their departments of which they seem to be totally ignorant of, but are quick to deny knowledge when things go wrong. The utterances of "I saw nothing, I know nothing" have relegated the notion of ministerial responsibility, once a foundation of our parliamentary system has been relegated to the history books. Many of those in power are children of the 60s who came of age fighting the establishment. They are still fighting it without realizing that in 2004, they are the establishment and responsible for their actions. If they are not caught red-handed with their hand in the cookie jar, they simply just deny that the cookie jar even exists.
Paul Martin has spent so much time trying to achieve the office that eluded his father for so long that it is doubtful that he has given much thought to the responsibilities of governing. after all, the leadership is his birthright--how dare anyone suggest that he should be responsible for anything that occurs under his watch.
Former U.S. president Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read "The buck stops here". Jean Chrétien should have had a sign that said "The buck never stops". and Paul Martin should have one that reads "Umm, I don’t know where the buck stops but, come hell or high water, I’m going to find out".
There is some truth to the statements of alfonso Gagliano and Paul Martin that they had no idea what when on in their departments. and that is a scary thought.