COLUMN: Think Again – NDP government avoiding financial accountability

It’s often said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Politicians are far less likely to make questionable spending decisions when they know they are being watched.

That’s why transparency with government books is so important. When spending is kept hidden from the public, questionable decisions become far more common.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly the kind of thing we are seeing from Manitoba’s NDP government. Perhaps the best example is the secretive way in which it has handled the opening of its U.S. Trade office.

First established last year, the ostensible purpose of this office was to strengthen trade relationships between Manitoba and the United States. However, red flags quickly became apparent when Premier Wab Kinew appointed former CBC journalist Richard Madan to the position.

Not only did Madan not have any record of trade experience, but he was a former work colleague of Kinew when they both worked for the CBC. At the time, former NDP government spokesperson said Madan would receive a $387,000 salary for his work in Washington, D.C.

While that salary was already quite hefty, it was soon revealed through a freedom of information request that Madan actually received $482,000 in consulting fees from the province and was also eligible for an additional $51,000 in out-of-pocket expenses related to hospitality and diplomacy.

But that isn’t all. Madan also has an executive assistant who makes $143,000 annually. Plus, there’s also the cost of Madan’s rent while he lives and works in Washington. When all is said and done, the province sets aside more than $1 million annually to cover the costs of this trade office.

Interestingly, the NDP government still refuses to come clean with all the facts. Its spokesperson continues to claim that the total cost of this office is “only” about $800,000 annually. Kinew’s communications director says that the reason $1 million is set aside is to cover contingencies for any other expenses that might come up.

The last time I checked, the total amount set aside for any government program, whether it includes contingencies or not, is the amount that should be reported. Clearly, the NDP knows that $1 million sounds a lot worse than $800,000, so it’s trying to lowball the number.

The reason the NDP thinks it can get away with this obfuscation is that it doesn’t report the total cost of the trade office anywhere in its budget. Instead, CBC reporters had to file multiple freedom of information requests to piece together the various components of this office to get a total budget. That is not what government transparency looks like.

Now, while it’s obviously unacceptable for the NDP to hide its spending, it might be at least partially justifiable if the trade office was getting measurable results for our province. But it isn’t. In fact, Kinew cannot point to a single trade deal that resulted from Madan’s work in Washington, D.C.

What makes this whole fiasco even more egregious is that Kinew is continually going out of his way to take personal shots at U.S. President Donald Trump. Regardless of how one feels about Trump, one thing we know about the president is that he’s unlikely to make trade deals with people he doesn’t like. Insulting the president might get Kinew brownie points among hardcore NDP partisans, but it does nothing to bring jobs to Manitoba.

Hiding how tax dollars are used from public view is always a bad idea. Spending $1 million annually on a U.S. trade office that has achieved no measurable results for Manitobans is clearly a poor investment.

This NDP government needs some sunlight right now. There’s a whole lot to disinfect.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.