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.]

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Audit of F-35 numbers up in the air more than two months after report deadline

OTTAWA - The Harper government has yet to hire an independent auditor to crunch the numbers on the F-35 deal, more than two months after its self-imposed deadline to clean up the stealth fighter fiasco.

Public Works quietly re-issued a tender on Wednesday, asking for an audit firm to come forward and take on the politically explosive task of verifying the figures provided by National Defence, which was accused last spring of hiding the true cost of the multi-billion dollar program.

The scathing report by auditor Michael Ferguson struck at the heart of the Conservative government's claim of being prudent fiscal managers by stating that Defence Department left out the long-term operational costs in its public estimates.

The auditor says the true lifetime expense for the multi-role fighter is expected to exceed $25 billion, far higher than the $16 billion claimed by National Defence.

Providing independently verified numbers within 60 days of Ferguson's April 3 report was a hallmark of the Harper government seven-point response.

When the deadline passed in June, both opposition parties jumped on the failure, but Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose promised an independent report would be available by the fall.

Original Article
Source: winnipeg free press
Author: The Canadian Press 

No comments:

Post a Comment