While you might be sitting at home right now trying to figure out how you’re going to pay for your home renovation or your Ottawa mortgage, those in Ottawa are trying to figure out how to pay for something else – the cost of answering questions.
There really is no such thing as a stupid question. But when you look at how much the Canadian government, and thereby Canadian taxpayers, are paying to get certain questions answered, it is just a little bit silly. It’s an argument of those in Parliament right now, with many Conservative MPs saying that the amount we currently pay to answer a question is ridiculous. Of course, opposition parties are saying it’s just one more way that Stephen Harper is trying to hide issues and information. Because even before money in Ottawa, it comes down to a question of power.
The way it works is this. When MPs have a question about policy, revenue, expenses, or anything else that they need to access to, someone has to run off and find the answer for them. Finding that answer involves tons of research and investigative activities, digging up documents and collecting data from the past several months or years. Once that information is gathered, it’s then usually put into a report or graph – one that’s usually very lengthy and complicated and of course, took a lot of time to put together. Time is money, right? Finding the answer and then a way to present it is what costs all the money. But just how much money are we talking here?
That’s just what Alberta NDP MP, Brian Jean, just wanted to know. He asked his own government how much it cost to answer these questions and when he got his report back, it was found that it cost about $1 million to answer just a few questions. For just one question in particular the total cost was $253,000. In fact, the cost is so great that it’s enough to give someone a full-time job – and one with a pretty nice salary attached to it. The approximated cost, given by the government, for answering such questions was about $60 an hour, or a yearly salary of $116,660. That’s money we’re paying – all so that some officials can get their questions answered!
For those who are worried about the Canadian economy, this is certainly a bone of contention. It’s agreed by many in Ottawa that the costs are too high and that it’s probably should be something that is put under review. Now, a referral to the House of Commons, where the matter could be examined more closely, is being considered; that could perhaps lower the costs or the frequency in which MPs are asking the expensive questions.
Either way, it’s a very big and up until now, a very hidden issue. Getting rid of these questions, or finding a more efficient way to ask and answer them, is definitely something that everyone would benefit from. It’s good that MP Brian Jean asked the question, and it could save Canadians thousands in taxes in the future. We just don’t want to know how much he had to pay to ask it.
