Canada's "No-fly" Zone

Ethics and the budget. In a bygone era, these two important realities were more intricately linked. Today it's harder to form a connection. As free trade zones continue to proliferate the agenda foreign policies worldwide, the sometimes unethical practices of some companies once again reveal how severing the spending of money from the moral conduct of those overseeing the enterprise can hurt those same firms, their shareholders, the citizens in those nations where they operate, and, sadly, the Canadian image.This week ethics and economy come closer to home - today in fact. Talk to keen observers of Parliament and they'll tell you that the grand institution is under historic assault by a government that appears to deeply dislike the constraints put upon it by the very system it promised to enforce when it was first elected in 2006. Parliamentary renewal? It's nowhere to be found on the federal agenda. Respect for committees, minority voices, and the ultimate arbitration of the Speaker? Obliterated by a kind of domestic "no-fly" zone that aims to cripple the ability of representative democracy from staging a comeback.Parliamentary committees, both in the House and the Senate, have put forward some key initiatives in this past year that impact our collective life as citizens. The environment, poverty, women's rights, corporate social responsibility, foreign aid - these and other vital realities of Canadian life have by and large been ignored by the Harper government. Votes can be ignored. The will of Parliament itself can be subjugated to a PMO bent on dominance. Attack ads, instead of solid legislation, have become the new method of manipulating Canadians for their favour.Which brings us back to today's budget. The government wants you to believe that despite all the ethical breaches it is undergoing and convicted of at present, it is still a capable manager of your money. One wonders how many Canadians would leave their savings tied up in a bank enduring endless scandals over how it handles its affairs? Would they invest in a firm found guilty on some charges of fraud and under investigation of others?Jim Flaherty is betting on the fact that Canadians care more about their money than their ethics, and for that reason there will be a concentrated attempt to tempt you to just concentrate on the former today. Behind all the millions that will be passed out to secure your vote in time for an election, there's a deeper fiscal mess that must be faced. During the Harper years, the size of government has grown appreciably, despite election promises to head in the other direction. It borrowed billions to ride out a global financial crisis when in reality it had already fallen into deficit territory prior to the worldwide meltdown. The $12 billion dollar surplus it inherited at the start of its tenure disappeared in almost an instant.  Mr. Flaherty will have to hand out money to acquire votes, but its money that is borrowed. Even the 1.5% age-point reduction in the corporate tax rate is being paid for by your money.You will be promised today that our country's significant deficit will be paid off by 2015, but neither the Parliamentary Budget Officer nor most accredited economists believe that is possible. Besides, part of it is a structural deficit, meaning that it will abide regardless of the health or weakness of economic growth. Canadians deserve a brand of honesty about what's happening to their tax dollars. All is not well in a country that has its largest deficit in history, a ballooning national debt, and declining levels of productivity that will make it virtually impossible to grow our way out of this mess.A government that denies Parliament transparency and accountability always runs the risk of denying its own citizens those same responsibilities. When it didn't want the appropriate Parliamentary committees to decipher the true costs of its new crime agenda or fighter jets, it withheld them, only to be found in contempt for the practice. In effect, it was denying citizens themselves the very information required to grade its performance. While you were getting more Conservative Action Plans signs than road signs in your community, the cupboard was being laid bare and the debt collector was on his journey to the door.This week has witnessed the convergence of two primary principles of good governance: fiscal responsibility and ethical management. The "Harper Government" is hoping you'll ignore the latter in favour of the former. Don't be fooled. The two are inextricably linked by that most important of virtues in any democratic society: trust. If that confidence it broken on the one hand, you'll never get it on the other. Parliament is in one of its most fragile eras since Confederation. How we endure the difficult days ahead will be primarily determined, not just be the oversight of Parliament, but by the desire of a people for a representative system that is founded on transparency and accountability. Today, you will get neither.