Blue Like You

Archive for August 15th, 2007

Once again, I’m going to take a break from posting for a while.

I find I need to do this on a regular basis; especially when my waking thoughts begin to turn exclusively to politics and blogging. That is just sick.

I may update the odd post if new information becomes relevant, but I’m sure that you will cope quite well without my rants.

While Dalton McGuinty is busy announcing how he plans to spend our money, a few items of concern are coming to light.

Well one tidbit is old news, but it has not yet been resolved. Christina Blizzard discusses the Colle-gate affair and the ensuing fallout, which she feels is still an issue (‘Liberal handouts will backfire’):

Provincial auditor general Jim McCarter released a report on what’s been dubbed “Colle-gate.” He concluded that while there was “no evidence” that any organization received a grant because of political ties, the connections were there.

“However, in some cases those ties did exist and, when this is combined with a process lacking openness and most of the normal accountability controls, it can create the perception of favouritism if the organization ends up obtaining a grant,” McCarter said in his report.

New Democratic critic Peter Kormos says that just because the auditor couldn’t find evidence that political ties resulted in grants being handed out, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

“To suggest that somehow it was an accident that some groups got money while another didn’t is extremely naive,” he added.

“He (McCarter) merely indicates that his investigation was unable to disclose those. That’s why the question of the nature of the relationship between some of these organizations and the Liberals in government warrants further inquiry,” Kormos said.

So Dalton’s claim of exoneration rings pretty hollow.

Then there’s the new development regarding a possible conflict of interest in the Ontario Power Authority.

For a supposedly squeaky-clean, transparent government, there sure is a reek emanating from Queen’s Park.