If you care, demand results...

Here is an interesting article I found on-line on how Gov't works - or does not work.  If we care, we need to demand results in whatever area we are concerned about.

(Note: Your comments are always welcome - but remember, I didn't write this) 

 Liberalism's 'dirty secret' no secret at all

Okay, maybe I'm dreaming, but surely at some point when enough tax dollars have been wasted so-called average Canadians have to take on the big-government poseurs who dominate debate in this country.

This week, Thomas Axworthy -- co-chair of the Liberal renewal commission and, more importantly, a Pierre Trudeau big-government advocate -- let the cat out of the bag. In his report released on the eve of the party's convention, Axworthy declared that, "Liberalism's dirty secret (and it is not so secret these days) is that government doesn't seem to work well much of the time." From Kyoto to the gun registry, billions of dollars have been wasted on programs that achieved very meager results.

This was the same observation made by the top bureaucrats in the country, who in 2002 made clear that the federal cabinet regularly approved spending that they knew in advance didn't produce the desired results. As then-deputy minister of finance Kevin Lynch stated, "There are still too many policies that simply don't work."

But the evidence is clear -- few Canadians, and even fewer big-government advocates, seem to care. Just this week, Auditor-General Sheila Fraser released her latest report confirming that the federal government employs "no comprehensive or systemic review to assess the effectiveness or relevance of ongoing programs." There are no demands made upon departments or agencies to provide data on their performance in order to assess how well they've spent their money. New programs are piled onto old ones without a systematic review to assess their effectiveness or redundancy.

While I agree with Axworthy's findings and salute his candour, he glosses over the real dirty little secret of the centre-left. It goes far deeper than a wilful disregard for our hard-earned tax dollars. What the evidence makes clear is that despite their protestations to the contrary, they care far more about looking good than they do for the people or causes they promote. As Axworthy found, it's difficult to imagine a policy area under Jean Chretien or Paul Martin that wasn't heavy on the sizzle and light on the steak.

Martin himself summed it up beautifully when he referred to Canada's foreign policy initiatives as the product of "empty moralizing."

It reminds me of a time a few years ago when, after I had written a couple of columns critical of the massive waste in the gun registry, a woman approached me and asked why I didn't favour gun control. I responded by asking her why she didn't. After all, if she really cared shouldn't she demand results instead of photo-ops.

That holds true for every policy area. If you care about the poverty on native reserves, then why not demand results. The same goes for health care, education, the environment, economic development or any number of areas. But instead, political considerations continue to take centre stage.

Axworthy encourages Liberals to change their ways and "be interested in results, not promises."

I say good luck, and offer the same advise to the Conservatives.

No matter who is in government, nothing's going to change until a majority of Canadians sit up, take notice and demand measurable results. Until we do, you can bet a good portion of the $229 billion the feds will collect this year will be wasted needlessly.

Michael Campbell