Governments
must stop serving themselves |
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By Mario deSantis, February 13, 2000 |
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public responsibility |
The one billion dollar mismanagement uncovered at the federal Human Resources department |
raises many questions regarding the public responsibility of our elected members as well as the | |
complicity of our bureaucracy. | |
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mismanagement |
This mismanagement is not different from what has been happening in Saskatchewan in regard |
to health care where it is my understanding that hundreds of millions of dollars have been used | |
to dig holes in the ground for the Y2K nightmare, the Saskatchewan Health Information Network, | |
Telehealth, and payroll. | |
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general malaise |
Mismanagement of this magnitude means that there is not one person or one party to blame, |
rather it is evidence of a general malaise affecting our divided country, where the vested | |
economic interests of different groups are pursued against both our individual and collective | |
interests. | |
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subordination of our governments |
It is my contention, that this state of affairs has been caused in part by the advent of our global |
economy and by the subsequent subordination of our governments to the corporate world. In | |
abdicating their traditional role to guide the economy, our provincial and federal governments | |
have alienated themselves from the public and cultivated the speculative business culture of | |
making money for themselves and their friends. | |
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federal Human Resources |
Going back to the one billion dollar mismanagement at the federal Human Resources department |
we have found out that taxpayers money has been disbursed to corporations which suddenly | |
went bankrupt after receiving such money, that taxpayers money was voluntarily disbursed | |
to agencies before such agencies applied for any money, that taxpayers money was disbursed | |
without any accountability in regard to purposes and budgeting. | |
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serve the public |
As Saskatchewan health care is concerned, the $50 million overrun for the closure of the Plains |
Health Centre in Regina is enough to identify the corrupted behaviour of Minister of Health Pat | |
Atkinson and her government. The moral of this story is to urge governments to reinvent | |
themselves and serve the public rather than continue to serve themselves and their friends. | |
---------------A list of few references: | |
The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism, by David C. Korten, 1999, Kumarian Press | Berrett-Koehler, http://www.mgeneral.com/5-top/99-top/korten.htm | |
The questions of the HRDC scandal. How can we trust a government that is not responsible? By Marie-Josee Kravis, National Post, February 11, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com | |
Never enough money for SAHO, by Mario deSantis, March 30, 1999 | |
Companies vanish after receiving grants:PCs, The StarPhoenix, page A16, February 10, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan | |
The closure of the Plains Health Centre: The $50 million overrun and the gimmick of saving money in health care, by Mario deSantis, December 19, 1999 | |
A governmental responsibility is to clean up our house first, by Mario deSantis, December 6, 1999 | |