By Mario deSantis,February 13, 2000

The one billion dollar mismanagement uncovered at the federal Human Resources department raises many questions regarding the public responsibility of our elected members as well as the complicity of our bureaucracy. This mismanagement is not different from what has been happening in Saskatchewan in regard to health care where it is my understanding that hundreds of millions of dollars have been used to dig holes in the ground for the Y2K nightmare, the Saskatchewan Health Information Network, Telehealth, and payroll. Mismanagement of this magnitude means that there is not one person or one party to blame, rather it is evidence of a general malaise affecting our divided country, where the vested economic interests of different groups are pursued against both our individual and collective interests.

It is my contention, that this state of affairs has been caused in part by the advent of our global economy and by the subsequent subordination of our governments to the corporate world. In abdicating their traditional role to guide the economy, our provincial and federal governments have alienated themselves from the public and cultivated the speculative business culture of making money for themselves and their friends.

Going back to the one billion dollar mismanagement at the federal Human Resources department we have found out that taxpayers money has been disbursed to corporations which suddenly went bankrupt after receiving such money, that taxpayers money was voluntarily disbursed to agencies before such agencies applied for any money, that taxpayers money was disbursed without any accountability in regard to purposes and budgeting.

As Saskatchewan health care is concerned, the $50 million overrun for the closure of the Plains Health Centre in Regina is enough to identify the corrupted behaviour of Minister of Health Pat Atkinson and her government. The moral of this story is to urge governments to reinvent themselves and serve the public rather than continue to serve themselves and their friends.

A list of few references

The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism, by David C. Korten, 1999, Kumarian Press | Berrett-Koehler, http://www.mgeneral.com/5-top/99-top/korten.htm

The questions of the HRDC scandal. How can we trust a government that is not responsible? By Marie-Josee Kravis, National Post, February 11, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com

Never enough money for SAHO, by Mario deSantis, March 30, 1999

Companies vanish after receiving grants: PCs, The StarPhoenix, page A16, February 10, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

The closure of the Plains Health Centre: The $50 million overrun and the gimmick of saving money in health care, by Mario deSantis, December 19, 1999

A governmental responsibility is to clean up our house first, by Mario deSantis, December 6, 1999