Great Moments in Canadian Government

Dan Mitchell

June 2

From a big-picture perspective, the Canadian government does the most damage to the nation's economy with bad tax policy, bad spending policy, bad health policy, bad monetary policy, and other expensive mistakes.

But sometimes it is small decisions that capture the absurdity of government. And Canada's politicians and bureaucrats have made many such blunders.

Handcuffing a woman for not holding an escalator handrail.
Stripping a dental hygienist of his license for having sex with his wife.
Levying a $465 fine on a motorist with a slight tear in his driver's license.
Grudgingly allowing two girls to operate a lemonade stand.
Awarding extra money to a healthcare worker because alcoholism is a disability.
Ruling that it is illegal for two kids to sell worms without a license.
Fining a mother for giving her kids non-state-approved lunches.
Suspending a student for rescuing a classmate from a bully.
Telling an Italian restaurant that Italian words are against the law.

Today, let's add to the list by looking at the government's decision to needlessly squander $12 million.

Here are some excerpts from a story in the National Post by Bryan Passifiume.

According to figures unearthed by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation via an access-to-information act, Parks Canada has earmarked $12 million to fund a multi-phase "Fur to Forest" program, which employs non-Canadian helicopter-mounted sharpshooters to eradicate an invasive herd of European fallow deer from Sidney Island — a nine-square-kilometre tract of land off the coast of Vancouver Island. That's nearly double the $6 million the program was initially forecast to cost. "It's appalling for Parks Canada to be blowing $12 million on a project that local hunters have been doing for a decade for free," the federation's Carson Binda told reporters in Victoria recently. ..Locals told reporters last year those efforts resulted in the removal of nearly 2,000 deer, and at no cost to taxpayers.

Since I'm a fiscal wonk, what galls me are some of the ways that the $12 million is being wasted.

According to cost breakdowns provided in the documents, deer eradication amounted to a little more than $4 million of the $12 million total, including $137,407 to facilitate "firearms registration for international workers," as the hunters brought in to cull the deer were from the United States and New Zealand — plus $35,000 for their work permits. ...A total of $800,000 was set aside to facilitate Indigenous participation in the program, which includes payments to three area First Nations, as well as $108,800 for meat harvesting, and $15,250 each for cultural and spiritual workers to train crews. Other costs include $2.3 million for salaries for Parks Canada staff, $1.4 million for analysis and studies and $3.3 million in miscellaneous costs.

I don't know what's more absurd, the $137K for firearms registration or the $15K for cultural and spiritual training.

The least surprising part was the $3.3 million for "miscellaneous costs," which is nothing but a payoff to the bureaucracy. Public Choice in action!

P.S. In fairness to America's northern neighbor, there are (or were) some good Canadian policy choices, including on issues such as school choice, welfare reform, corporate tax reform, bank bailouts, regulatory budgeting, spending restraint, the tax treatment of saving, and privatization of air traffic control.

P.P.S. There's also a libertarian quandary in Canada.