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TOSSING
TAXPAYERS' DOLLARS INTO THE GARBAGE BIN
It is no secret
that the federal government ignores the views of Canadians and uses
their tax monies as its own to pay for its special friends and hangers-on.
At least, that is how the Chrétien government operates. The
Auditor-General's report, tabled in December 2001, confirmed that
these practices are continuing without abatement.
Auditor
General's Report December 4, 2001
(a) Human
Resources Development
Even when
the great scandals, such as the 1999-2000 Human Resources Development
(HRDC) boondoggle, mismanaged by its incompetent Minister, Jane
Stewart, were exposed, little was done to improve the situation,
according to the recently appointed Auditor General, Sheila Fraser.
In her first report, tabled in the House of Commons on December
4, 2001, Ms. Fraser stated that there have not been overall improvements
in the way grants and contribution programs are being handled by
HRDC, with its $16 billion budget; unbelievable mismanagement of
these funds is continuing.
(b) Health
Similarly,
the Health Department, managed for three years by yet another incompetent
Minister, Allan Rock, was severely criticized by Ms. Fraser. Ms.
Fraser noted that Mr. Rock had recently spent $15 million on prostate
cancer research. (It is interesting to note how many grants for
prostate research were made after Mr. Rock underwent prostate surgery
last year.) Unfortunately, according to Auditor General Fraser,
Mr. Rock was using money for prostate cancer research which had
been set aside exclusively for the Population Health Program funding.
The Health Canada rules specify that the Population Funds are not
to be used for research purposes. Mr. Rock, however, apparently
regarded prostate cancer research of such importance that he believed
himself entitled to ignore his own department's regulations.
Similarly,
Health Canada's $21 million HIV/AIDS strategy program is also being
badly mismanaged, according to Auditor-General Fraser. Key documents
from the AIDS program funding are missing, and the Health Department
has failed to track the effectiveness of its HIV/AIDS grants. The
Attorney General stated, as an example, a proposed $84,000 AIDS
study: it received an outright rejection by one of its reviewers
and two external reviewers requested major revisions to the study
before it would be acceptable. Nonetheless, without changes, the
project was given the go-ahead, not for $84,000 but for $130,000!
When questions were raised about this grant in the House of Commons,
Mr. Rock stated (Hansard, Dec. 6, 2001, p. 7965), "… it
was discovered after the whole application was looked at, that to
get value for the $84,000, we had to add other components."
Right.
Mr. Rock's
blasé attitude towards the AIDS funding is in sharp contrast
to that of his counterpart in the US, Health and Human Services
Secretary, Tommy G. Thompson. The latter ordered audits of all AIDS
prevention programs after an investigation of one such program revealed
it was giving inappropriate and obscene workshops to directly promote
homosexual activity. Compare this to the appalling Canadian situation,
where federal AIDS funding was used to instruct youths in Barrie,
Ontario on sadism and masochism (S & M techniques). (See Reality,
March/April 2001, "Sado-masochism Sex for Children," page
5.)
Naturally,
there is absolutely no data in Canada to show that the millions
of tax dollars given by the federal government to AIDS organizations
over the years has, in fact, lowered or stemmed the spread of AIDS.
However, the funding of AIDS organizations by the federal government
continues unabated.
(c) Employment
Insurance Fund (EI)
In her report,
the Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, pointed out that there is currently
a $36 billion surplus in the EI Fund. The government does
not financially contribute to this fund at all, as it is derived
solely from contributions made by the employees and employer's contributions.
Its purpose is to financially compensate workers should they lose
their jobs. The Auditor General states, however, that a surplus
of $15 billion only is sufficient to keep the fund operational.
Consequently, the $36 billion surplus amounts to a huge overpayment
by both employers and employees.
Because of
this huge surplus, the Liberal government has now decided to reduce
the EI premiums in 2002 by a grand total of five cents (5¢).
According to the Auditor General, the EI premiums should be set
at $1.75 (per $100 of insurable earnings) instead of the current
$2.25 to break even. This 5¢ reduction now reduces the premium
to $2.20 (per $100 of insurable earnings) in the year 2002. Meanwhile,
the 2001 surplus has been transferred by the Liberal government
into its general revenues, called the "Consolidated Revenue
Fund," where it is to be distributed by the government for
its own purposes - to reduce the debt, or for health, education,
etc., or, more likely, to generously make grants and contributions
to the Liberals' friends to win their support and influence. None
of the money is to be returned to the workers and employers whose
contributions made up this huge surplus.
In this regard,
the Auditor General has identified $16 billion that the Liberals
handed out last year in grants and contributions that were never
brought before Parliament for any kind of scrutiny. At p. 1 of her
report, Ms. Fraser made clear her concerns. She stated:
…
the erosion of parliamentary control over how the government raises
money and spends it. Canadians have a right to control how public
funds are collected and used, and ultimately it is the members
of Parliament we elect who carry out this control on our behalf.
That is why I am concerned about recent examples of the erosion
of parliamentary control, involving billions of dollars of revenue
and expenditure.
The above
financial catastrophes have all been casually dismissed by Prime
Minister Chrétien as being just the cost of doing business
in Canada, or, alternately, just understandable, forgivable human
error. However, it is not human error, but a deliberate decision
by the Liberal government to establish extravagant agencies to further
the left-wing cause in Canada.
Left-Wing
Agencies Funded by the Federal Government
Each year,
every government department and agency prepares estimates in support
of it and to justify its request to Parliament for public monies.
This request is formalized through tabling of the Estimates (appropriation
bills) in Parliament. To read these Estimates is to weep.
Status of
Women:
1. Status
of Women
The Status
of Women Estimates state that the purpose this agency is "to
promote gender equality and the full participation of women in
the economic, social, cultural and political life of the country."
A more accurate statement of its objective, however, would be
that it exists, "to promote the full participation of feminist
women only in the life of the country," etc. (All other women
are considered irrelevant). To this end, according to the Estimates,
in 2002 - 2001, the agency was given $20.3 million dollars to
carry out its mandate.
Of this sum,
$9.3 million was distributed to feminist groups solely to keep
the flame of feminist ideology burning brightly across the country.
Also included
in these grants was $2 million for the so-called Agenda for Gender
Equality (AGE) whose purpose is to integrate gender mainstreaming,
i.e., the promotion of feminist ideology in all government policies
and legislation. The department spent $9.7 million of its appropriations
on operating expenses alone. In short, the Status of Women is
yet another government boondoggles for feminists to ensure that
their voice, and their voice only, is heard in the public debate
and to further their ideology in all government policies, programs
and legislation. These Estimates, by the way, included the hypocritical
statement that the Status of Women believes "it is increasingly
important to recognize women's diversity in carrying out its programs."
2. Canadian
Human Rights Commission
This Commission,
at cost of $21,686,200 has the responsibility of enforcing politically
correct thought and discriminatory employment policies within
the federal government, such as in public service, the armed forces,
the RCMP and national banks.
Employment
policies in the federal government enforced by this Commission
are discriminatory because of the 1995 Employment Equity Act ,
which is administered by the Commission. This legislation requires
the government to give preference to hiring four designated groups:
women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and visible
minorities. Merit is not a priority.
In addition,
the Commission enforces pay equity legislation within the federal
bureaucracy. This has resulted in billions of tax dollars being
paid out by the government, based on an impenetrable scheme administered
by the Commission's bureaucrats, which supposedly equates the
"value" of jobs dominated by women with the supposed
"value" of jobs predominantly held by males in the federal
government. (See Reality, September/October "High
Noon for Pay Equity," p. 1)
Not only
is this horrendous bureaucracy poking its nose into the affairs
of Canadians, by forcing them to stay on the politically correct
highway, but it is also promoting this agenda in other countries.
The Commission's international hanky panky, by the way, is funded
in large part by the Department of Foreign Affairs and yet another
questionable federal agency, the Canadian International Development
agency (CIDA). See Reality, November/December 2001, "CIDA's
Phony Consultations on Liberal Party Slush Fund, p. 10.) The Commission
has, for example, been active in Indonesia and India. Also, the
Commission is now organizing a human rights network for the Americas.
If these countries knew what we know about the Commission, they
would not be looking to it for advice!
In this regard,
we all agree that basic human rights, such as those included in
the UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948), are of vital importance
in all societies. Freedom of speech, religion, freedom from arbitrary
arrest, freedom from torture, entitlement to a fair hearing by
an independent tribunal, and employment without discrimination
because of colour, race or place of birth, etc., are all basic
rights essential for the dignity of all human beings. However,
the Human Rights Commission, both the federal and provincial,
are not about these matters at all, but, are all about conducting
witch hunts against anyone who has objections to the politically
correct agenda - especially on the homosexual issue.
Interestingly,
only a fleeting reference to the Commission's own seething internal
problems last year was made in the Estimates. These problems were
significant - sagging morale, infighting and high staff turnovers
among the Commission's staff. (See Reality, May/June 2001,
"Human Rights Commissions Have to Go," p. 16). These
problems led to the Commission retaining an outside consultant
to sort out its problems - at a cost to the taxpayer of $4,072,200!
The head of this beleaguered Commission, Michelle Falardeau-Ramsay,
announced her retirement, effective December 31st, because she
stated that she was "exhausted" (a lot of travel will
do that). Justice Minister, Anne McLellan, has announced that
she is "rethinking" the entire human-rights agenda.
That is bad news, if the recommendations of the Human Rights Review
Panel Committee are to be implemented. (See Reality, July/August
2,000, "The Human Rights Crazies Just Get Crazier,"
p. 12.) However, one hopes that the recently appointed Minister
of Justice, Martin Cauchon will be on a slow learning curve and
will not be able to tackle the recommendations for the Commission
for some time.
3. Law
Commission of Canada
The Law Commission,
formerly known as the Law Reform Commission, was abolished by
the Conservative Mulroney government in 1992. The Liberal government,
however, was quick to re-establish it once it came to power in
1993. This Commission serves as a handy way to promote a left-wing
agenda, even though, according to the Estimates, the Commission's
role is supposed to be to serve as a source of "independent
strategic and timely legal policy."
The trouble
is that the Law Commissioners are all appointed by Prime Minister
Chrétien and we know what that means - they all agree with
his agenda, and, as a result, are anything but "independent."
The Commission's
recommendations have been used by both the Department of Justice
and the Supreme Court of Canada as a source of legal "wisdom"
to provide a sort of intellectual respectability to "coat"
the judge's own ideological and philosophical inclinations. For
example, the Law Commission has already jumped on the same-sex
marriage bandwagon and prepared a study paper called, "Recognizing
and Supporting Close Personal Relationships Between Adults."
Three of five authors of this paper are known lesbians. The paper
is fundamentally biased against marriage. (See Reality,
March/April 2001, "The Bias of the Law Commission of Canada
- Marriage Takes a Beating," p. 7.) There can be no doubt
that the purpose of the Commission's paper is to "assist"
the Supreme Court when it renders its decision on same-sex marriage
within the next year or so.
Further,
on January 29, 2002, the Law Commission tabled a report in Parliament
entitled, "Beyond Conjugality," (based on the study),
which stated that opposite-sex marriages are discriminatory. It
stated specifically that "there is no justification for maintaining
the current distinctions between same-sex and heterosexual conjugal
unions …"
The name
of the game is of the Law Commission is to set the framework for
massive legal changes in our fundamental beliefs and understanding
by providing these changes with an intellectual underpinning.
That is, the Law Reform strategy is to get Parliament to eliminate
traditional marriage and failing that, to get the Supreme Court
of Canada to do the job based on its "studies."! A perfect
propaganda tool - all at the taxpayers' expense.
Tax Funded
Propaganda Play
The Commission
recently launched a $60,000 taxpayer funded play to educate (propagandize)
the public about evolving adult love lives and the law. The play
is to be shown in Montreal, Winnipeg and Halifax, before ending
its run in Vancouver in April. Admission is free. According to
the Commission, the purpose of the play is to reach out to all
kinds of people - gay and lesbian, disabled, anti-poverty and
other community groups and individuals. Included in the play are
a lesbian couple raising a child, a 67-year-old widow with a new
boyfriend and a divorced man in his forties who moves back to
live with his mom.
It should
be pointed out that the Commission had already hosted public meetings
across Canada to collect input on "relationships," as
set out in its paper referred to above, "Recognizing and
Supporting Close Personal Relationships," and its report
to Parliament. Although these reports have already been completed
and submitted to the government, the play, according to the Commission,
is being put forward after the fact, because "these issues
won't go away." Not if the Commission can help it! About
3,300 people will see a total of 10 performances across Canada
if all tickets are used. Canada certainly does not need this insane
Commission, whose essential purpose is to be a propaganda tool
for a left-wing, anti-family agenda.
According
to the Estimates, the Commission costs the taxpayers $3 million
per year.
Conclusion
It is not
difficult to understand how the Liberal party has managed to stay
in power, election after election, for most of this past century.
It has vast experience in controlling and manipulating taxpayers'
money for its own purposes to ensure its hold on power. Such abuse
of unscrutinized grants, contributions and propaganda agencies,
however, is rarely regarded as a problem by media giants as the
Liberal-supporting Izzy Asper Southam newspaper chain, or the left-wing
CBC. Hence many Canadians are unaware that this is taking place.
Please write
to the following about these abuses of taxpayers' money:
The Hon.
Jean Chrétien, PC, MP
Prime Minister's Office
80 Wellington St., 2nd Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A2
Tel. (613) 992-4211
Fax: (613) 941-6900
The Hon.
Paul Martin, PC, MP
Minister of Finance
L'Esplanade Laurier
21st Floor, East Tower
140 O'Connor Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G5
Tel: (613) 996-7861
Fax: (613) 995-5176
Your MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
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