Suspended Sen. Mike Duffy makes his way to the Senate in this file photo. Photo: Fred Chartrand/The Canadian Press Is there a public-interest argument for much tougher penalties, including debilitating fines and automatic hefty jail terms, for politicians who are found to have bilked taxpayers on their expense claims in significant amounts, say more than $5,000? Yes there is, and it can be summarized in a single word: Greece.
Where citizens broadly do not trust the fundamental integrity and caution of those whose responsibility it is to manage public wealth, one inevitable consequence is illegal tax avoidance, or cheating. As we saw in Greece in 2012, that can have catastrophic economic consequences. The only remedy for endemic cheating, along with cracking down on the cheats, is to restore trust in the system and its managers. The most direct lever for bringing that about, in turn, is to modify leadership behaviour, so that egregious cases of improper spending – as we have seen in the recent scandals surrounding suspended Sen. Mike Duffy, former Alberta premier Alison Redford, and now Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell – occur less frequently. Only Duffy is facing charges, so far.
So, investigate aggressively, charge, try and, where the evidence warrants, convict. Then, never mind minimum security for 15 months, followed by parole due to the minimal threat of recidivism, the absence of violence, the shame and suffering already suffered due to the loss of reputation and prestige, and so on. Lock the guilty up, say for five years, minimum. And take their stuff. All of it.
After all: The minimum sentence under the Criminal Code for armed robbery, using a firearm, is four years – if the weapon is not restricted or prohibited, and if the crime is not done at the behest of a criminal gang. The maximum sentence is life in prison. Public officials convicted of criminal breach of trust, or fraud on the government, meantime, are liable to a jail term of not more than five years. Surely there should be greater parity between the stupid thieves, who use weapons to steal picayune sums, and the smart ones, who use spreadsheets to steal small fortunes?
Some will consider this a descent into witch hunts and guilt by association, unfairly aimed at people who already suffer more than their share of abuse at the hands of journalists and public, especially now in the era of the Twitter mob. It’s a fair point. Twenty-five years ago, when I began my newspaper career, politicians were chased, hounded and scrummed, but not often personally insulted or abused, as is common today. Twitter in particular has become an echo chamber for the vilest effusions that brain-dead partisanship can produce.
Brampton mayor Susan Fennell cheers as Liberal finance minister Dwight Duncan delivers the provincial budget at Queens Park in Toronto, Thursday March 23, 2006. (Tyler Anderson/National Post)
At the same time, I am struck by the gulf between the generally low public perception of politicians, and the reality. There are exceptions, obviously; but for the most part, judging from the politicians and staffers I speak with regularly, from every party, Canadians are well served by them. Most work hard and genuinely want to do good. I do not know a single federal MP or staffer who does not have serious mixed feelings about the life, mainly because of the ridiculous demands it places on their time, which is never free, and the bath of negativity in which they are constantly immersed. This isn’t to say they don’t love it – but it’s a complex relationship, more akin to an affliction, for many, than a job.
Which is why those who take egregious advantage, the small minority, should receive far tougher justice than they typically have, in Canada. In addition to restoring public trust, turfing the rotten apples protects and preserves what’s left of the barrel.
Premier Alison Redford had the support of her party as she left the Clarion Hotel in Calgary after meeting with the Progressive Conservatives Executive on March 15, 2014. It was a week of turmoil for the leader of the party. (Lorraine Hjalte/Calgary Herald)
At the top I referred to “public wealth.” That’s because the sums we willingly place in the care of politicians, at every level of government, are mind-boggling. The Fraser Institute’s Canadian Consumer Tax Index, the National Post reports, reveals that Canadians now spend just under 42 per cent of everything we earn on taxes, all-in. That’s up from 33.5 per cent in 1961. The increase in the average family’s tax bill in the past half century, the Post’s Jennifer Hough relates, has been 1,832% – more than rises in the cost of homes, food and clothing. Household net worth is also rising, but tellingly, that’s mainly due to real estate and investments. The pinching of middle-class cash flow, as I have written previously, is not just a Liberal party political slogan. The problem is real, and taxation must be considered a part of the mix.
The point: If more than 40 cents on every dollar Canadians earn, on average, goes to the public weal in one form or another, we are entitled to expect that not a penny of it, let alone thousands of dollars, is used to pad a politician’s housing expenses, pay for his or her personal meals and entertainment, or personal first-class airline tickets, or personal coffee and Timbits, for that matter. The tolerance for misuse of public money by public officials should not be low; it should be zero. If that can become the new consensus, then Duffy, Redford et al will have done the country a solid.
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