Shredding the Public Interest

David E. Smith is a professor of political Studies at the University of
Saskatchewan and the author of Building a Province: A History of
Saskatchewan in Documents and The Invisible Crown.

With his pen Kevin Taft may be no Victor Hugo, but as an attack on
government duplicity, Shredding the Public Interest is firmly in the
tradition of J’accuse. The causes may be different: to reveal
political deception in the presentation of Alberta’s fiscal accounts
rather than to expose injustice. The impact of the indictments may be
contradictory: l’affaire Dreyfus haunts France still, while Taft’s
charges have had no appreciable impact on the tenure of the ruling
Progressive Conservatives. (The book appeared during an election
campaign in 1997, which saw the number of Tory seats in the legislature
increase.) Nonetheless, Shredding the Public Interest mounts a powerful
case against those, of whatever political stripe, too long in power.

All governments are economical with the truth when advancing their own
cause. For the last decade in Alberta that cause has centred on reducing
public expenditures. More specifically, the object has been to cut
social programs. Transfers to the private sector saw no similar
restraint—quite the reverse, they multiplied. In short, Alberta’s
residents took cuts in order to subsidize big business. Not only that,
they were told they were to blame for the province’s purported
financial problems.

If there is a villain in this piece, Taft says, it is those in power
who make decisions and set priorities. While the chief culprit depicted
here is Ralph Klein, the reader is left wondering if there is not more
to the story. If Taft can use available data from the public record to
make his case, why could others—the opposition and the media—not do
the same? Is there no public opinion in Alberta? If, as some of the
chapter titles say, Klein “pulled the wool” and let loose “the
spin doctors,” was there no one to cry foul?

It is sometimes said that people get the governments they deserve. If
true, Shredding the Public Interest is a cautionary tale indeed.