To the Editor: A year ago, the Harper government got 2010 off to a bad start by "proroguing" Parliament - i.e., shutting it down to hide from scrutiny. Not a good omen!
Prorogation was followed by revelations of cronyism in the Geurgis/Jaffer affair which exposed Conservative insiders seeking special favours. Trouble continued with police investigations into Conservative contracting, and Ministers' offices caught blocking Access-to-Information.
In June, the G-8/G-20 fiasco cost taxpayers a billion dollars for an orgy of Conservative extravagance - from glow sticks and ornamental gazebos to fake lakes.
The misbehaviour continued with Mr. Harper's attacks on the Census, damaging the credibility of Canada's official statistics.
That was followed by the high-risk $21 billion deal to buy stealth fighter-jets, with no mission definition and no competitive bidding to get value-for-money.
Meanwhile, our Armed Forces got evicted from their base in the United Arab Emirates, and the Harper government bungled Canada's bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.
Then came the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) with news of $10 billion in secret, unbudgeted prison costs.
And then, revelations that veterans are being insulted and mistreated by Harper Ministers and bureaucrats, including the political misuse of private health records.
Along the way, the Veterans' Ombudsman, the PBO, Canada's Chief Statistician and the senior management team at the RCMP all became political road-kill under the wheels of the Harper regime.
On the economic front, the Conservatives produced the worst federal deficit in history ($56B), a 25 per cent jump in poverty among seniors, and a 50 per cent explosion in household debt.
Worst of all, 13 Conservative MPs from Saskatchewan sat mute and useless while Stephen Harper maneuvered to say "yes" to the sell-out of Saskatchewan's potash. Only a determined stand by Premier Wall and a forceful political threat by the Liberal Opposition in Parliament forced the Conservatives to back-down.
Ralph Goodale, MP, Wascana, SK.
