Sometimes politics is just too ridiculous
Armchair Mayor column, The Kamloops Daily News, Saturday, May 22, 2010
One of my favourite movie lines, in one of my all-time favourite movies — the 1970 film Little Big Man — is spoken by the Jack Crabb character played by Dustin Hoffman.
Pondering the fact that his life had been saved by the murder of one of his best friends by one of his mortal enemies, Crabb says, “The world was too ridiculous to even bother to live in.”
One could adapt that line this week to say, “Politics is too ridiculous to even bother with.”
More specifically, our Ottawa politicians are so ridiculously out of touch that one wonders why we listen to them.
Auditor General Sheila Fraser — foolishly thinking Canadians have a right to know if Members of Parliament are spending their money appropriately — wants to audit the expenses of Members of Parliament. MPs — who seem of a view that the AG’s job is to keep an eye on everyone else in government but not them — have politely declined, telling her it’s none of her business.
This piece of astute decision-making came through something called the Board of Internal Economy, an all-party committee (four Conservatives, three Liberals, one New Democrat, and one Bloc) whose job it is to oversee the operating budgets of the House of Commons. Only the Bloc member supported Fraser.
Some of the reasons given for rejecting Fraser’s request are pretty interesting, such as, it hasn’t been done before so it can’t be done now, and why would Fraser want to audit the people who hired her?
As is usual with such things, backbench MPs are left trying to stickhandle their way between public backlash and the party line as best they can. Cathy McLeod says there are adequate safeguards in place already to make sure MPs don’t abuse their expense accounts, because KPMG does an audit and the AG would simply be duplicating.
“There is a process in place for accountability,” she told me yesterday, but admits she’s been hearing from constituents who aren’t impressed.
In response, she’s posted her 2009-2010 expenses on her website. A good idea, but it provides only the barest of information on office expenses for staffing, travel, advertising and lease, and on “goods and services provided by the House.”
The latter shows $129,487 in travel, while her office budget shows $251,197 for “staff and other expenses” and $25,062 for advertising, for example.
A full audit would break down those expenses into individual receipt items to reflect if they are within reason. McLeod, to her credit, says she’s happy to provide exact information to anyone who asks.
But she isn’t quite taking the bull by the horns. In a written response to constituents who express concerns, she states that “I personally believe an additional audit by the Auditor General is expensive and redundant given the systems we have in place.”
She assures them that it’s “nearly impossible for Members to abuse the budget” because of all the controls.
She adds, though, that she will express their concerns to caucus.
As reasonable as this sounds, it begs the question why, if MPs have nothing to fear, they’re acting very much as if they do. With all those controls in place, and everything being so squeaky clean and above board, would they not want to go out of their way to satisfy Canadians that our federal Parliamentarians are not indulging in the profligate misspending exhibited in other governments.
Canadians, after all, are used to hearing stories about Nova Scotia MLAs using public money to buy big-screen television sets, and British MPs expensing swimming pool maintenance, tennis court repairs, and moat cleaning to taxpayers.
In such an environment, would it not be politically prudent, not to mention proper, to enthusiastically embrace the auditor-general’s modest proposal?
The incomparable Rex Murphy captured this sentiment best the other night on his Point of View segment on CBC’s The National (which, by the way, Cathy McLeod watched).
“Why are our politicians afraid of Sheila Fraser?” he asked.
“Why is she allowed to look into every corner of government spending, summon whole departments, but not welcome to look into the public expenses of people elected by the public who are spending the public’s money?
“Their brains are on prorogation. They have been talking about busty hookers and borrowed Ferraris for so long they have no minds left to think with.
“Stonewalling the auditor-general is the dumbest move in the history of Canadian politics. . . . Can they not see how odd, shifty, condescending, privileged, one rule for thee another for me, this makes them look?”
Or, as Jack Crabb would say, “The world is too ridiculous.”
mrothenburger@kamloopsnews.ca
ArmchairMayor.ca 
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