Discussions

 
 
I am all for accountability but what price do we have to pay for it.  
 
Big news - the 2 year investigation into Senate spending came up with 1 MILLION dollars worth of spending that was problematic.  
 
small print - this is based on a review of 180 million dollars of spending. in other words almost 99.5 percent of spending was deemed appropriate.  
 
smaller print - this study cost an estimated 21 million dollars.  
 
The necessity of the Senate is a separate question but I think it is scandalous that unearthing the Senate scandal cost 21 times what the bloody scandal did.  
 
Unfortunately I am unable to link to Winnipeg Free Press article.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Edited by CommonTater, 2015-06-08 17:59:15

CommonTater said "     I am all for accountability but what price do we have to pay for it.     Big news - the 2 year investigation into Senate spending came up with 1 MILLION dollars worth of spending that was problematic.     small print - this is based on a review of 180 million dollars of spending. in other words almost 99.5 percent of spending was deemed appropriate.     smaller print - this study cost an estimated 21 million dollars.     The necessity of the Senate is a separate question but I think it is scandalous that unearthing the Senate scandal cost 21 times what the bloody scandal did.     Unfortunately I am unable to link to Winnipeg Free Press article.                                           Edited by CommonTater, 2015-06-08 17:59:15"

http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/5666170-senate-leaders-housakos-cowan-repay-expenses/

Does seem crazy.  
 
Harangue Federal NDP owe 3x as much, and the cost to discover that was almost zilch.

This is typical of government spending. The same can be said of any court proceeding, where the cost of a judge, jury, officer's time, and a host of support staff will often outweigh the damage of the crime or the costs of the fine. Often this will aply to police investigations too.  
 
This is also why, whenever a group demands a public enquiry on anything, their is a great reluctance on the government's part to provide it. The costs these days are insane.

Shall we eliminate the police, courts, lawyers, etc because they cost more than the crimes they deal with are worth? Do you have any idea what it costs to hunt down, capture, incarcerate and try a petty criminal who "only" stole a few hundred dollars? Why do we do it? Because it upholds the principles of a civilized society.  
 
Granted, the senate expenses that are deemed "improper" may be a drop in the proverbial bucket, but this is more about weeding out the ones who should not be there in the first place - the ones that are, for lack of a better word, criminals who are stealing from the public purse.  
 
Edited by JR, 2015-06-08 19:13:17

When politicians realize that even if uncovering their theft and BS and exposing it costs way more than they scammed, maybe they will think twice. It cost (maybe) $.60 (sixty cents) per Canadian to expose what an unnecessary artifact our Senate has become.  
 
The original concept seemed to be having a group of distinguished and knowledgeable people to oversee and amend laws before they were enacted.  
 
Now, it's a sinecure for party hacks who couldn't get elected or who 'know where the bodies are buried'.  
 
We don't need a "chamber of sober second thought" as much as we need a new system to replace the "first past the post" nonsense we get now. Whether it's run-off elections, when there is less than 50% or coalitions, the current system isn't serving the will of the people who take the few minutes of their day to get out and vote.

Harper pledged an elected senate.  
From that socialist rag, The National Post, http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=f2f52882-50a4-43e4-abdd-e66bdd70822d

just_thinkin said "Harper pledged an elected senate.   From that socialist rag, The National Post, http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=f2f52882-50a4-43e4-abdd-e66bdd70822d "

Not sure how anyone could believe anything Harper says at this point?  
 
He also ran on Senate Reform, and all he has done is appoint more Senators than any other Prime Minister in history.  
 

is very important at any cost, especially when it comes to our government. It doesn't matter how much it cost, claiming things you shouldn't is wrong either way. There are other tax payers (Veterans for one) that deserve that million a lot more.  
And aside from that the clear problem with the rules and what they are and are not allowed to claim should be known to people.. I don't know why they don't have to post all of their claims for the public like our provincial government does.

The Senate gets to make its own rules, then choose whether or not to enforce those rules and when to do so, and then decide whether or not to be transparent about any part of the process.  
 
How could there be any problem with that arrangement ?  
 
As a fallback position, any time a senator is caught with his or her grubby mitts in the cookie jar, they can always blame a petty functionary for an "administrative error"  
 
Avarice run amok.