How could this be allowed to happen in an open and democratic society?

Kudos to Daniel McHarty of the Telegraph Journal for breaking this story. It's simply unacceptable for these standing legislative committees to have sat dormant for as long as they did (18 months now), especially since the sitting members on the committees are reponsible for scrutinizing the books in Crown corporations and public accounts. To put it mildly, the New Brunswick government has spent billions of our hard-earned tax dollars without the proper checks and balances. The bottom line is, at the moment, they are completely unaccountable for their actions.

Their excuse? "The province's record-breaking legislative session and the 2006 election has caused the delay". That's comical! Because frankly what they are claiming here is that if the legislature had sat shorter instead of longer, they could have got around to the committee business. Is it just me or does that make no sense? Not to mention, Stuart Jamieson's election claim is very weak as well. Why? Because a serious and focused government should be able to transition into power quite smoothly with very few delays or problems. In other words, a past election is no excuse to delay governing. Furthermore, they [government] got around to auditing the books of the previous government right away without delay. So I guess it's OK for them to demand accountability from the former Lord government but not themselves. A bit of a double standard, don't you think?

I can't tell you how disappointed I am in the lack of accountability of this Liberal government. To be honest, I thought that they would have learned their lesson after showing such disregard for taxpayers after handing the financially troubled Caisses Populaire de Shippagan $60 million dollars without even opening the books to the public or consulting taxpayers first.

So far, this government deserves nothing more than a big fat F from NB Taxpayers when it comes to government accountability and democratic reform.