Article content

The Liberal commitment to open government remains an empty promise – for confirmation, watch question period on any given day or, worse, file an Access to Information request.

Yet sometimes, despite the worst intentions of risk-averse politicians and public servants, citizens get to peek behind the curtain of bland assurances that government has never been in such capable hands.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or John Ivison: Elections Canada’s use of social media ‘influencers’ a $430,000 debacle Back to video

While oral questions in the House of Commons are seldom answered to anyone’s satisfaction, written questions from opposition MPs to ministers are often much more revealing.

A slew of ministerial answers was tabled this week, offering a less than reassuring picture of the way taxpayers’ money is being spent and their affairs conducted.

For example, take Elections Canada’s use of “influencers” on social media to encourage young Canadians, new immigrants and people with disabilities to vote. The campaign was scrapped when it was revealed that some of the 13 influencers had engaged in past activities that could be deemed partisan. Alas, Elections Canada did not discover that First Nations activist Ashley Callingbull had called for Stephen Harper’s defeat in 2015 until after she and her 12 fellow influencers had been paid. The net cost of this fiasco to the taxpayer – $430,000.