StraightGoods.ca

Trashing of PBO Kevin Page destroys Conservative credibilty on accountability – Mulcair.

by Samantha Bayard

OTTAWA, March 7, 2013, (Straight Goods News) — With the term of Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Kevin Page almost up, the Harper government is stalling in appointing a replacement and shrouding the selection process in secret.

NDP finance critic Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park) said in the House: "Canadians will be kept in the dark about the membership of the selection committee to replace Kevin Page. It is one thing after another: dodging oversight; avoiding accountability. What exactly are they trying to hide?"

Treasury Board president Tony Clement deflected blame to staff. "This process is headed by the Chief Librarian, under a process that she is leading. We respect that process. She is in charge of that process… Why does the honourable member not respect the Chief Librarian?"

NDP leader Tom Mulcair later scoffed at this response. "Tony Clement’s intervention today was purely childish for him to stand there and to try to say this has something to do with our attitude towards the Library of Parliament is, frankly, beneath contempt," he told reporters. "He knows he’s playing a political game. We want to make sure we have somebody giving good information to parliamentarians so we can we make good decisions for Canadians – period, full stop. So they’ll probably send us some party hack, you know, that didn’t make it into the Senate and we’ll wind up saying no and we’ll be back to Square One and we won’t have the information that the public needs."

Mulcair says government is shredding all claims to accountability by manipulating PBO selection process.

"We know who’s on the selection committee to replace the Governor of the Bank of Canada. It is a bit surprising that the Library of Parliament finds that its appointments process is a notch higher and the public isn’t allowed to know," he said, "It’s quite a big concern for us. Because the Parliamentary Budget Officer of course came in as part of the much ballyhooed Accountability Act. They’ve gutted every other part of the Accountability Act since they actually formed government so we’re quite concerned about the PBO. So it’s quite clear to us that they’re not taking it very seriously.

Government knowingly underestimated costs – NDP's Kellway.

by Samantha Bayard

OTTAWA, February 28, 2013 (Straight Goods News) — The Harper government's reputation for competence and honesty took another hit today with the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s (PBO) report that the government underestimated the cost to replace two 45-year-old resupply ships by at least $1 billion, igniting new charges of government mismanagement and cover-up.

"They missed the mark on the cost of the Joint Support Ships (JSS) by a long shot," NDP procurement critic Matthew Kellway told reporters. "It was 30 percent on the estimate and about 60 percent on the budget envelope. …The PBO was in fact, I think, very charitable."

When Kellway questioned public works minister Rona Ambrose in the house today she replied: "If adjustments need to be made, they will be done in partnership with the shipyards, the Navy and the Coast Guard." Adjustments can only mean getting less costly ships which can’t do what was promised.

"I don’t know what that gets you but it gets you some form of ship that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do and it certainly gets you some form of ship that doesn’t do what the government promised they would provide to our Navy," said Kellway.

Kellway suggested all the government's procurement debacles — fighter jets, helicopters, ships — stem from a lack of a clear and solid defense policy and a government which is incompetent and secretive.

"What this government put forward as a defence policy in 2008 was essentially a shopping list to recapitalize the armed forces. And what we know now clear[ly] is they can’t afford to do that, even at the price stated… and what is also clear is that price was vastly understated. When you multiply the kinds of things under, cost understatements that we’ve seen for the F-35, that we’ve seen for the JSS, and you multiply that across the full range of capitalization, then it’s clearly a fantasy document that, that exists now. The CFDS (Canada First Defence Strategy) has come crumbling around him and it’s an enormous indictment of incompetence frankly that, that after six years in that seat, there’s nothing there in the way of defence policy."

Matthew Kellway describes lies and secrecy in the procurement of ships

"Where we have to start is with honest transparent government, because one of the
interesting facts that came out in the PBO report is that in 2008, this government, DND already priced the JSS at $3 billion. And interestingly, it was the very same month that that report comes out that they decide to cancel the JSS program and say that the bids were non-compliant. This government has known for five years that back in 2008, it would cost $3 billion to, to do what they said they were going to do. And you apply escalators to that, and that comes out at probably somewhere over $4 billion. So what are they telling Canadians? They’re telling them, and still stand in the House and tell us that they can do this for $2.6 billion and that is simply not true. And you have this circus where the new associate minister (Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Delta-Richmond East) stands up to talk very proudly about their record. What kind of record is that? Five years
ago, they knew that they couldn’t buy those boats for $2.6 billion. And they’re still claiming now that they can do that."

Liberal defence critic John McKay describes the procurement in similar terms. "Every procurement is either late, it's overbudget or sometimes both. It's gross incompetence."

John McKay can’t believe, 6 years into a mandate the government still can’t replace two ships

Conservatives stall appointing replacement for Kevin Page, whom they attacked for exposing them.

by Samantha Bayard

OTTTAWA, January 30, 2013, Straight Goods News — Parliament’s first sitting day in 2013 had the NDP concerned that the successor to Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Kevin Page will lose the power to anaylze governement finances. Page, appointed by Harper in 2008, has repeatedly come under attack from government members for revealing the truths that make them uncomfortable.

The PBO is an independent officer of the Library of Parliament created by the Harper government to fulfill a campaign pledge. Page was appointed in March 2008. His term, which has been marked by controversy because he has repeatedly pointed to government waste and financial inaccuracies, is almost up. NDP Finance Critic Peggy Nash says his successor could become a mouthpiece for the Prime Minister, so she has tabled a private member's bill to make the PBO an independent officer of Parliament.

"What the PBO was created for was to provide accountability for Canadians," Nash told SGNews. "If you remember, he was created from the Accountability Act on the heels of the sponsorship scandal and the point was to provide independent, economic analysis, timely information in real time for Canadians and not have to wait for an Auditor General to go back and tell us after the fact what has happened."

Peggy Nash wants PBO independent analysis to continue

NDP leader Tom Mulcair said Page has been vindicated each time he's disagreed with the Harper government. "Every time there’s been a discussion between the Conservative government and Kevin Page as Parliamentary Budget Officer, the Conservatives have attacked him because he refuses to deliver Conservative talking points," he said. "Every time there's been a debate or a discussion or a disagreement, Kevin Page has been proven 100 per cent of the time to be right. He’s fulfilling an essential role. He's providing Canadians and parliamentarians with the real information."

Tom Mulcair says credible information from the PBO is essential.

Cuts mean EI and pension claimants put on indefinite hold.

by Samantha Bayard

OTTAWA, Straight Goods News, November 1, 2012: In the wake of federal budget cuts, EI claims are backlogged and, for many claimants, are not being handled at all. NDP human resources critic Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain) said many Canadians never get to speak to a live person when they contact Service Canada.

"Service is a huge misnomer in the name of Service Canada," said Charlton. Those who contact Service Canada often include the unemployed and seniors who need help with their CPP and OAS, many of which don't have the access or help necessary to utilize and online system." In the House, she said "Canadians in precarious situations are calling to ask about much-needed support but instead of getting help they are getting Muzak."

Chris Charlton thinks better service is needed at Service Canada

"We know for example that in Sturgeon Falls right now there is an office that doesn't have any computers at all, they cannot provide computers to people for whom they are suggesting to go for Internet access. The other thing though is that people need help in interpreting some of these programs, that help used to be available and now because of staff cut backs it’s harder and harder to access that kind of help."

In the House, human resources minister Diane Finley said the backlog is slowly being reduced, which she credited to declining unemployment. Charlton was not satisfied with this. "The Conservatives promised that their cuts would not affect front-line services," she replied. "However, apparently they do not consider answering the phone a front-line service."