HIDDEN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CUTBACKS

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this article by Thomas Walkom "Tories cut costs on backs of endangered species". The gist of Mr. Walkom's article is that while the federal Tories (Conservatives) are reducing government spending, which is not necessarily per se a bad thing; the problem is their secrecy and lack of transparency. Just recently the Federal Court has found against them in a lawsuit launched by environmental groups including Ecojustice dealing with endangered species. Put bluntly the federal government intentionally and blatently broke their own laws by not making plans to assist endangered species make a comeback.

There are other examples of federal government cutbacks affecting the health and safety of Canadians. The obvious one would be in regards to the tainted food scandal at Alberta's XL Foods. Perhaps issues dealing with rail safety in Canada might also be on this list. As far as whether the Tories are improving things generally or not with their fiscal probity is difficult to say. As Mr. Walkom states: "We'd have a better idea if the government told us what exactly it was up to. We might feel more secure if it didn't break the law.". Indeed!