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It’s the great contradiction of our time that citizens around the world are looking to governments to reduce their levels of economic stress, at the same time as their faith in the ability of governments to succeed has tanked.

A remarkable exchange at a House of Commons committee meeting this week deserves a wider audience and, fans of big government be warned, it will do nothing to restore that faith.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or John Ivison: Throwing a good $100M after a bad $2.7B with Indigenous jobs program Back to video

The Public Accounts committee was meeting to discuss the Auditor General’s spring report, which had been highly critical of training programs for Indigenous Canadians that had have cost the taxpayer $2.7 billion in the last eight years.

Michael Ferguson’s office had labelled the shortcomings of Employment and Social Development Canada an “incomprehensible failure”.

ESDC does not provide services, such as occupational skills training, employment counselling and wages subsidies to employers, directly to clients but instead funds Indigenous “agreement holders” to deliver training.