Liberals kne-jerk reaction to Gomery damaging the Civil Svc

Liberals knee-jerk reaction to Gomery is damaging the civil service.

This is a commentary from a person who was an insider at one time, and has no axe to grind now. His job is not in jeopardy. This stifling of previous normal procedures has been mentioned on these forums, but has been overlooked to a large degree. Apparently it is so bad that buying office supplies has become a major effort in some cases.
Durgan.


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Excerpts. Quote.
Former deputy minister Harry Swain suggested the changes to government administration, proposed in response to the sponsorship scandal, may increase bureaucracy, and cause a "breakdown," or "total constipation" of the system.

"Ridiculous and surreal impositions are raining on the public service from management theorists and politicians--sometimes the same person--seeking to bury Gomery," said Mr. Swain.

"It is said that all this is in aid of preventing another Adscam. Horsefeathers," said Mr. Swain. "Even [Auditor General] Sheila [Fraser] didn't say there weren't enough rules. She said the rules were broken. Two hundred and thirty-eight new rules, plus legions of comptrollers and auditors, will not prevent malfeasance if a prime minister decides that a higher cause justifies playing fast and loose with the rules." Unquote

Durgan.

Shiela Fraser was on the radio here this spring and she said that there were alreasy too many rules. Office supplies are the extreme end of the spectrum, but that problem actually exists. Likely more serious is that some departments have become virtually crippled because people are afraid to make decision on the allocation of money.

You can't blame them either. Who the hell wants to throw their career away because somebody you've never met has a connection you've never thought of?

No doubt Rev.

This is the result of political corruption. We need to stamp it out.

Thats why we need an NDP Government. Jack gave a good speech today in the commons.

Liberals and Conservatists have both been proven to be corrupt. We need to give someone else a chance.

Rev:
I chose the pencil examples to exaggerate the difficulty, and to depict the misery imposed on those at the working level. Imagine what it is like to make a relatively major purchase?
Durgan.

I know somebody who waited 6 weeks for a chair, Durgan. Not a fancy chair either...just the usual armless swivel model with wheels that you see in offices all over the planet.

There have been stories of people being afraid to submit their expense accounts because the Conservative Party was rumoured to be combing expense reports for the slightest mistake and likely to bring them up during Question Period.

The fear within the departments is palpable.

Fine... please elect the NDP for a term or two so people will see that they are just as susceptible to corruption as the Liberals or Conservatives. Then maybe we can move on from this...

The whole political structure needs to be over hauled The NDP portional representation proposal and their ethics proposal is what we need.

I'm not sure that's true with the federal NDP, MMMike...they've invested themselves pretty heavily in PR so they'd have to bring it in if they were elected. That keeps the corruption to a minimum because other parties would necessarily be involved in cabinet.