Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Budget watchdog rips DND for keeping cost of Iraq mission secret

Canada’s budget watchdog slammed defence officials Friday for refusing to divulge the cost of the Iraq combat mission.

In a succinct letter, Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Fréchette took aim at the deputy defence minister, Richard Fadden, for saying the military’s cost estimate for the six-month airstrike is a cabinet confidence.

“As you will be aware, cabinet confidence exists to allow for free and frank discussion of problems that come before Cabinet,” wrote Fréchette. “It does not, in this case, apply to the data provided to Cabinet.”

Fréchette’s letter goes on to say that if the cost was included in a discussion paper weighing whether to join the combat mission, “the decision to engage in military operations has been made and, therefore, the data can no longer receive protection under” access to information laws.

Fréchette said he needs the estimate so he can be sure the department has enough funding for the mission. His letter reminds the government that it passed a motion to join in on air strikes over Iraq on Oct. 3 – meaning one-quarter of the six-month mission has already passed. He made his request for estimated costs on Oct. 15.

The military said earlier this month that it had provided the government with an estimated cost for the mission. But Defence Minister Rob Nicholson told the House of Commons defence committee Tuesday there would be no figures disclosed until the mission is over.

He cited changing costs of ongoing airstikes, despite the fact that Australia, which joined the U.S.-led mission just days before Canada, has already provided a cost estimate of $500 million per year.

In response to the PBO letter, Nicholson’s spokeswoman echoed his comments that the government will release the estimate “through existing parliamentary mechanisms” but would not say what those were.

Earlier this month, the Citizen estimated the first week of air operations to cost between $2.7 million and $4.1 million. It calculated the average cost of a sortie by hour, combined with hours flown.

Those figures are likely low. They do not include what defence officials call “incremental costs” – costs such as salaries and maintenance, which, if included, would bring the full cost of the first week to between $8.1 million and $12.1 million, according to the Citizen’s calculation.

Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author: DYLAN ROBERTSON

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