globeandmail.com : Tories black out details of Dingwall resignation

globeandmail.com : Tories black out details of Dingwall resignation

There's a friend of mine in Ontario who's been saying "I told you so" ever since I started whining about Stephen Harper's appointments of unelected Senators, and his acceptance of floor crossers in the name of political expediency. Since that time, she's had occasion to say it a few times, not least over the recent Tory announcement of the promised Accountability when Harper walked out on reporters who refused to follow his pre-arranged script for the event.

None of this really surprised me when it happened. I whine and complain because I know its wrong, but the fact that Harper and the Conservatives are capable of such certainly comes as no surprise to me, lol. But this Dingwall affair seems to go beyond even the typical penchant for political lies.

Anyone who watched the last election campaign in Canada saw and heard Harper drone on and on about the Dingwall Affair, about how it was essential that we get the details of what happened when he left his job at the Mint, and why someone who supposedly quit his job was given a huge severance package. One of the campaign ads Harper ran even featured Dingwalls quote "I am entitled to my entitlements" to drive home the point about how the Liberal Govt at the time was hiding the key details of what transpired.

Now, the conservative govt has released some info on the affair, a 487 page report on the reasons why the Dingwall affair was handled as it was. By most accounts, the report is blacked out and censored through giant swath's of it.

In the end, its nothing that is illegal. But for a government who campaigned on, in part, the corruption insinuated by paying $400000+ severance pay to someone who voluntarily leaves their job to then release a report that has most of the relevant details blacked out is beyond hypocritical. It shows that the ads run, at least in this specific instance, in the campaign were lies, plain and simple. Again, this doesn't surprise me ... the Canadian government is famous for broken promises (ofc, the 1992 Liberal Redbook promised to kill the GST when elected ... and of course we still have GST).

Someday, however, the Canadian people will decide that politicians need to tell the truth. Until then, sadly, we will have to deal with reports like this one on the Dingwall affair, reports that tell us nothing of use. Wouldn't it be nice though, someday, to be able to force politicians to address their lies? I know ... I won't hold my breath ... after all, it would be Parliament that would have to pass the laws. Fat chance there, having them pass laws to make themselves accountable. Shame that ... not surprising, but definitely a shame.

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