John Baird Had Promised to Replace Accountability with Corruption. Man Did he Keep His Promise.

And you thought that all Reform-Conservatives were hypocrites. You can hear it right from the horse's ass ... er ... I mean, mouth. He told us his government was going to trade accountability for corruption and he kept his promise.

With the rumblings from the Maritimes over the way that Peter MacKay has been doling out stimulus, I remembered that I had actually posted about this, and John Baird, on my blog back in June. Others were also trying to warn Canadians that there was corruption afoot, but it would appear that few listened.

I also shared an email from a 35-year-veteran civil servant with Transportation and Infrastructure. When he raised concerns with the way the department was being run he was forced to retire.

"I wondered how long it would take for the media to discover that the infrastructure stimulus spending has everything to with patronage, and nothing to do with what is good for the nation. [Deputy Minister Louis]
Ranger [whose retirement was announced yesterday] was pushed out of the job and told, 'We don’t want your advice” regarding the spending projects. Indeed, the
woman who is the ADM in charge of the file has been specifically told by the minster’s office, “We don’t want your advice; we want you to do as you’re told. Projects are selected based on the needs of the Conservative Member of Parliament in that riding as the first criteria. As a long time bureaucrat, I am used to dealing with politicians who revel in self-interest. Baird however, is the nastiest, most partisan creature to have ever run a large department. ...

There was a great Op-ed piece in the Guelph Mercury about the level of Ref-Con and Harper Hypocrisy. (Not Baird. He already admitted that he was going to engage in corruption)

Harper government heavy on hypocrisy
October 19, 2009

One of the things that bothers me most about the Harper government is its hypocrisy. Don’t get me wrong. Stephen Harper and his Conservatives are not the first to make commitments they have no intention of keeping – or to promise to do one thing when their real intent is to do the polar opposite. With Harper and Company, however, hypocrisy has become a modus operandi.

Consider two examples: Harper’s war on patronage and his pledge of open government. These were two striking features of his struggle to lift his party out of opposition. Both were important elements of his government’s very first bill on taking office in 2006, the (so-called) Accountability Act ....

It has become painfully clear that Harper never had any intention of doing anything about patronage, other than to practice it with gusto and single-minded determination. The Chrétien/Martin Liberals had proved to be extremely proficient purveyors of pork in their 13 years in office; Harper is more than keeping pace ....

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?