In Angelo Persichilli’s Toronto Star column today, “No one bothers to watch the bureaucrats,” he rightly points out that our country’s bureaucrats have an easy way of it when it comes to doling out taxpayers’ money. The unknown (largely unaccountable) bureaucrats hiding away in their Ottawa and Toronto office towers, are a troubling piece of the Big Government puzzle.
Persichilli’s insightful comments on this:
Politicians and government appointees are heavily scrutinized by the media and opposition, who are continuously fed “brown envelopes.” And they can easily lose their jobs for an expensive dinner or for misusing their free mailing privileges.
But we never pay attention to hundreds of decisions made daily by top bureaucrats awarding contracts without proper tendering procedures, thus wasting millions of dollars, and giving their friends thousands of dollars in useless consulting fees or rich and unjustified severance packages for themselves.
This doesn’t mean that all senior bureaucrats are dishonest. In fact, the vast majority of civil servants work hard and take care of the interests of all Canadians.
But just as not all politicians are honest, the same is true for senior bureaucrats, who have far more power than the politicians but are allowed to act without any scrutiny from media and opposition.
Angelo Persichilli’s column can be read here: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/839643–persichilli-no-one-bothers-to-watch-the-bureaucrats
It is time to shine a bright light on our Canadian bureaucracy – federally and provincially. As the public sector continues to grow, hiring more civil servants, creating more government programs, and spending more and more taxpayers’ money – I think Canadians have a right to know more about the activities of their bureaucrats.
