Editorial - 17-4

It appears as though the federal and Ontario governments could use a refresher course on openness, transparency and timely disclosure. This issue of RE$EARCH MONEY contains several examples of new initiatives in which these fundamental tenants of democratically elected governments have been brushed aside.

The first is the case of the $2 billion allocated in the federal Budget to combatting climate change. Of that amount, a whopping $1.7 billion was reserved for unnamed measures, including $200 million for investment in “longer term climate change technologies”. And the Budget prompted two high-ranking cabinet ministers to issue an open letter linking specific Budget initiatives to the government’s National Summit Action Plan for innovation. The only catch is, the Action Plan hasn’t been released and remains an internal document.

At the provincial level, premier Ernie Eves gained good press linking $625 million in R&D investment to a new strategy for the automotive sector. A careful reading of the press release, however, shows that this money isn’t earmarked for automotive R&D. It’s open to all industries — not a bad thing but certainly a departure from the intended government spin.

Queries to both levels of government resulted in obfuscation of various sorts. If governments make decisions on their use of public funds, they should do so in a clear and open manner and provide details at the time of the announcement. Sadly this is becoming the exception rather than the rule.