Conservatives take aim at “money for nothing” contracts
Today in Quebec City, Stephen Harper unveiled his plans to clean up public opinion research contracting – a key plank of the Federal Accountability Act. Under the Liberal government, contracts have frequently gone to political insiders and taxpayers seeking to determine value for money have been left on the outside because of the existence of “verbal reports,” contracts for which there is no paper trail for work performed.
“Canadians work hard for their money. And when they send their tax dollars to Ottawa they have a right to expect value for money,” said Mr. Harper. “This means work that is fully accessible and fully auditable.”
The Liberals' fondness for verbal reports has been criticized by the Auditor General. In the same report that uncovered the sponsorship scandal, the Auditor General criticized public opinion research contracting as having similar problems. In particular, chapter 5 of that report criticized the use of government polls for political purposes as well as the prevalence of “verbal reports.” The Auditor General singled out the Department of Finance, which during the tenure of Paul Martin relied heavily on verbal reports in contracts involving the Prime Minister’s friends at Earnscliffe. She found that five out of eight contracts between Paul Martin’s Department of Finance and Earnscliffe between 1999-00 and 2001-02 had only verbal reports. Based on publicly available data, the value of these contracts was somewhere between $75,000 and $750,000.
And this practice has continued under the Martin government. In February 2005, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs hired a consultant for $132,000 and specified in the contract that “presentations shall be oral with supporting material provided to aid comprehension but not retained by the department”.
A new Conservative government will ensure value for money by banning verbal-only reports. In addition, it will clear the air on the Auditor General’s disturbing revelations of public opinion research practices. A Conservative government will do this by:
- Ensuring that all government public opinion research is automatically published within six months of the completion of the project, and prohibit verbal-only reports;
- Ensuring that an independent review is conducted of government public opinion research practices as discussed in Chapter 5 of the Auditor General’s November 2003 report to determine whether further action, such as a judicial inquiry, is required; and
- Opening up the bidding process for government advertising and public opinion contracts to prevent insider firms from monopolizing government business.
“When the Auditor General cried foul over questionable polling contracts, Paul Martin turned a blind eye,” Mr. Harper concluded. “We are going to get the bottom of these ‘money for nothing and your cheques for free’ contracts and finish the work that Sheila Fraser started.”
A new Conservative government will stand up for honesty and integrity in government by fighting waste, mismanagement, and corruption.
