That was the line that Public Works Minister Scott Brison must have parroted a hundred times in Parliament. Seems only the Liberals can pre-empt Justice Gomery's work.
...The hyperbole and timing of the announcement, if not its substance, had Liberal opponents gagging.
"It's totally designed to pre-empt Gomery," said NDP veteran Ed Broadbent.
"The problem with the government has not been the lack of auditing. We've had good auditor general's reports in the past, including on matters relating to the Gomery inquiry . . . . The problem is to clean up the mess the auditors ultimately reveal."
Conservative MP Gary Lunn said that after 12 years in power, the Liberals have discovered accountability two weeks before Justice Gomery is to issue his Nov. 1 report.
"I think the saddest part of all of this is there is not one mention of any type of accountability from their political masters," said Lunn. "They are in this mode of blaming it on the civil servants."
The whole point of waiting for the second Gomery Report was to get recommendations on how to ensure things like Adscam won't happened again. If the Liberals think they already know how to fix things then what is the point of waiting "30 days after Gomery"?
Update: James Travers
is not impressed with this "fix".
...As Auditor-General Sheila Fraser so memorably revealed, what's wrong here is not the rules, it's the people who break them. Serial failures occurred because the top level of civil servants bowed and scraped when ordered by their political masters to do what was clearly wrong and, in some cases, criminal.
...Senior civil servants see coming more structure hitched to the almost-religious belief that more complex systems will inevitably lead to better government. Those below see ministers pushing blame for corruption down the pecking order onto those who can only resist political pressure by wrecking careers.
For most Canadians, it's an inside-the-beltway argument between two groups that get little or no respect. What matters beyond the insular little village on Parliament Hill is that politicians keep their hands off the public purse and that civil servants operate government machinery effectively.
Friday's announcement isn't convincing enough to ease either concern. Any ethical renaissance will have to wait for both Gomery reports, and what Alcock and Brison are offering is no panacea for government performance problems.
What's needed here is a change of culture. What's being delivered is another change of rules.
Faced with sudden danger, this federal government is seeking protection in its predecessor's cautious escape plan. It will run even more slowly.
