John Ivison: Who cares about $87 billion? Not the Liberals or the NDP apparently – National Post

As Yves Giroux, the parliamentary budget officer, put it in his guidance for MPs: It will be difficult for parliamentarians to perform their critical role of properly scrutinizing proposed government spending in the four-hour window. And so it proved. It was a thoroughly unsatisfying experience for anyone who cared to watch.

So much money is flowing through these supplementary estimates that ministers had trouble answering what it was all for

Former NDP MP Pat Martin chaired the government operations committee for years and fought successive governments to improve scrutiny of spending. Its the most fundamental principle of our democracy and the most important job a member of Parliament has, he said. It used to make me crazy that billions of dollars would fly out the door with only a cursory review of an hour or two of review or oversight. That is the bare minimum of accountability the government owes the people.

The opposition parties commanded a majority in the House on Wednesday and could, in theory, have demanded more information. But the NDP had already shown its hand and bargained away its independence.

Singh and his colleagues might have a better chance of changing the world if they just joined the Liberal party.

Email: jivison@postmedia.com | Twitter: IvisonJ

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John Ivison: Who cares about $87 billion? Not the Liberals or the NDP apparently - National Post