Failure of character

Someone sent me this picture last night, knowing how much I despise politicians who live by unprofitable growth. Poor Raymond, look at him on the right, he’s probably daydreaming about his upcoming week-end on the ski slopes. Or he’s wondering if he should have listen to his father 40 years ago and become a proctologist. Or maybe he’s just depressed, which is odd because he’s the Quebec minister of Happiness. But working for Curly (on the left) is surely taking a toll, when the captain is stirring the ship into the abyss it’s time to consider where the nearest lifeboat is.

The numbers are out. Quebec’s deficit has jumped $9.3B for 2008-2009, a whopping 4.4% increase from the previous fiscal year, totalling $218.6B. And that number doesn’t take into account some other government debt of $25B.

As if the picture wasn’t gloomy enough, public debt has been constantly increasing for the past 10 years even if the economy has been through exceptional phases during that period. Accounting gimmicks gave the impression that the budget was break even, but it was far from the truth. When you switch the amortization period of assets from 25 to 40 years, sure you’ll pay less each month but the global picture is actually worse.

Now you’re thinking, Raymond will look like a total ass 4 weeks from now when he will propose a budget for the coming fiscal year. No, he will be all smile because he’s the minister of Happiness, remember? Those who will look like clowns will be the paxpayers, because you and me will have to pay (again) for this hell of a mess. Brace yourself for impact, dear members from la belle province.

If the province of Quebec was a publicly traded company like CGI, what would happen? Shareholders would file a lawsuit against the board for total destruction of assets. And they’d probably rampage the headquarter looking for incriminating documents. Raymond and his boss are no different than those who managed WorldCom and Enron. The only difference is, their chose to work in public service, but their actions (or lack thereof) are the same. Failure of character.

Maybe I should give up CGI and run for office, bringing profitable growth (and therefore real happiness) to all citizens. I don’t know if Serge would let me.