Ferry affront
Three strikes and you’re not one bit closer to knowing what the heck is actually going on. Certainly, it’s question period, not answer period, but the current federal government has got obfuscation down to a science. Or an art.
Three times on Wednesday, federal Transport Minister Lisa Raitt was asked about what an 85 per cent cut to the operational budget of Marine Atlantic would mean to the Crown corporation’s service. The $97-million cut was revealed in the federal estimates.
Again, the question: what does it mean to the service?
Answer No. 1: “Mr. Speaker, maybe the Honourable Leader of the Opposition should speak to somebody in his caucus because this morning, indeed, a member of the NDP did call Marine Atlantic’s CEO to get an explanation. The CEO explained it as follows. It is returning to the base level of funding because this government has provided to it an incredible amount of funding for revitalization of Marine Atlantic. We have built new facilities. We have entered into new charter agreements. We have invested in Marine Atlantic, so that it will continue to offer the service that we are so proud to offer here in Canada.”
Answer No. 2: “Mr. Speaker, the honourable member will have an opportunity to read into the record exactly what the CEO of Marine Atlantic told him on the telephone. It was a little bit more than that. The reason I know is because we have had a conversation with Marine Atlantic to ensure the fact that it is comfortable going forward with the amounts that are in the main estimates. We will continue to work with it in its budgeting to ensure that it provides the service that we have so well invested in, in the past five years.”
Answer No. 3: “The main estimates are really that. They are estimates and they do not reflect the total budget that will be allocated to any individual part of our department at any given time. It is important to make sure that we are aware that the government is supporting Marine Atlantic, both in terms of capital and in operating funds, and we will continue to live up to that obligation.”
After that set of answers, it’s guaranteed that her Conservatives applauded. After all, the House of Commons is probably the only place where skilled, intelligent people on the government side agree completely every day on the manifest brilliance of their confreres, no matter how asinine the answers given.
But now that you’ve read all three, how confident are you that a) service will not be affected; or b) prices will not rise dramatically?
It’s all well and good for political parties to play their back-and-forth brinksmanship. NDPers Thomas Mulcair and Ryan Cleary, Liberal MPs Judy Foote and Gerry Byrne and Raitt herself can batter this back and forth in the House of Commons like cats toying with mice.
What they forget is that, on this island, everything from food to furniture to fish makes its way across Marine Atlantic’s constitutionally-guaranteed essential link.
Playing political football does nothing but seed the ground with fear, both for individuals and business.
Maybe governments don’t have to answer opposition questions. But taxpayers deserve better.