POLS 3440 Lecture Notes - Final Analysis, Ottawa Citizen, Open Government

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3440
• Professor: Geoff Stevens

Document Summary

All politicians, when they are in opposition, embrace the principle of open government. Let the people see what their representatives are doing. Let the taxpayers know how their money is really being spent, every penny of it. Once the same politicians form a government, however, they invariably have second thoughts. They realize that the principle of openness, which seemed so attractive and popular when they were in opposition, has a huge potential for embarrassment when they are in government and have matters they want to keep secret. Prime minister stephen harper is a case in point. When he was the opposition leader, he was an enthusiastic supporter of openness and transparency. 2005, the year before he took power: information is the lifeblood of a democracy. As we learned last week, ethics codes and commissioners are a valuable, but incomplete, approach to the problem of corruption in public life.