"Creative accounting" can be interpreted as theft. Should and must be investigated by the Auditor General.
Why are creative governing and governance not at the top of the list.
Posted by Anonymous to Our Town and Its Business at 3 April 2016 at 11:06
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Theft is stealing.
Contractors and suppliers giving generously to politicians cannot be described as theft.
Whether invited or invitations are sought to the small intimate dinners is not known. However, business would likely receive advantage from making up close and personal contact with with a Premier or a Cabinet Minister.
The big affairs are like United Appeal fund-raising dinners. A head table and hundreds of tables of ten fill a hotel banqueting facility or conference centre.
I've been to a couple of "Heritage "dinners. Table guests were mostly municipal officials. A theme of one was celebration of the political career of George Smitherman. I guess funds raised were for his Toronto Mayoralty campaign.
Bob Rae was there. After dinner he and Premier McGuinty circulated for photo opportunities. Everyone seemed happy enough to be there.
Like a Mayor's Annual Golf Tournament. Many municipalities have them. In Aurora, it's organized by volunteers. The money raised is openly declared and distributed among voluntary groups .
The guests are a jolly crowd and recipients are most appreciative.
The problem I have ,and I'm probably the only one , is many corporate guests are contractors and suppliers who do business with the municipality . Town staff are on hand ,playing golf and breaking bread with the paying guests.
Many annual contracts are extended without the competition required by regulation to ensure best
price for the municipality.
There may be nothing wrong but by standards familiar to me, it doesn't look right.
In municipal procurement , it must not only be right,it must be seen to be right.
The government passes legislation and spells out regulations to ensure it is right.
It makes me a bit of a grinch and no doubt offends people who feel the golf tournament is worthwhile and work hard for success but I've never been comfortable with the event.
Dwight Duncan and John Gerretson have acknowledged extreme discomfort in being expected to
raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for their political party by making themselves available to who would find it worthwhile to pay thousands of dollars for the opportunity to get up close and personal with people in power.
If the funds went straight into their pockets it would clearly be seen to be seeking a bribe.
That it goes into party coffers doesn't make it clean.
Their instincts were right.
Unfortunately, instead of opposing the practice they left politics.
It creates another dilemma familiar to many.
The right to vote means little when those who might inspire confidence and trust no longer offer to serve.
Seriously off-topic here..........
ReplyDeleteThe FLDS believe the end of the world is on the 6th of April.
They believe that the walls of a couple of federal penitentiaries are going to fall and their incarcerated leaders will stride forth.
[ I just wanted to give you time to straighten out your affairs ]
I do not think there is any way to stop that fund raising as long as there are deep pockets available. I got serious donor fatigue for a while right here in town. And there is another side to it. Some folk do actual volunteer work - they get asked to do a lot of labour and then can find themselves left out of events. That must be very sad.
ReplyDeleteThese businesses that purchase tickets to these events are actually solicited by the event themselves. There is an expectation to purchase them. Deciding not to, is sometimes not an option for some businesses.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteHow do you trust a politician (minister) to be impartial when you have paid a paltry $10,000 to sit at a table in his/her presence when you know a competitor has forked out $20,000?
The situation with political financing is getting to be like an auction, possibly one that is rigged.
The only way to stop this CRAP is for the public purse to pay a fixed amount to each office-seeker and forbid any financial contributions from the public, be they from individuals or corporations or other entities such as trade unions. The penalty would be a criminal charge with all its consequences.
Let each office-seeker determine how best to spend this money.
I have nothing against public events to raise money for worthy causes but staff should not be permitted to participate, i.e. in a golfing events or similar. Staff must be completely separate from companies who come seeking contracts.
I remember when Ballard was starting out and tried to go for really expensive tickets to a Ranger event. It was a complete flop - people got what they wanted in the silent auction for very little and attendance was largely restricted to his freebie buddies and those who were comped by Stronach. It hurt him and his cause. Unfortunately from my point of view, he was figured out what went wrong.
ReplyDeleteHappy Square Root Day !
ReplyDeleteFrom a rookie town councillor to Queen's Park; yeah, you could say he hasn't done too badly. He's surpassed his mentor, that's for sure.
ReplyDelete10:54 - Winning an election is also about timing. Ballard had to get the nomination for the Liberal riding (the person who brings in the most money to the party wins), The Conservatives had that brilliant leader Hudak, who opened up his mouth about cutting public servants in half a few weeks before the election. And Voila...we have Ballard as the MPP. Kinda like how we got Dawe as Mayor. It was an "Anybody but Morris" theme.
ReplyDelete"Like a Mayor's Annual Golf Tournament. Many municipalities have them. In Aurora, it's organized by volunteers. The money raised is openly declared and distributed among voluntary groups ."
ReplyDeleteAnd it is held in West Gwillinbury!!!
It would be interesting to know how many out of town businesses this Town uses vs inside for their outsourcing. I bet not many. We have so many talented people/businesses who both live and work in our community. I guess they haven't bought any of those tickets for those "charitable" events.
ReplyDeleteI hope the local conservatives have cleaned house, That last election here in town to replace Klees was a disaster. I do not want to see anyone connected with that fiasco.
ReplyDelete4:08
ReplyDeleteIt was very predictable, Hudak made sure of that.