Consultation

Not that it was really needed, but yet more evidence of the farcicality of the pre-budget "consultation", via Everton McLean of the Telegram:

St. John's residents taking part in provincial pre-budget consultations Monday were sent a reality check by the government coming in the form of an interest meter tallying money spent on the provincial debt over the course of the meeting.

Finance Minister Tom Marshall, who will travel the province for followup public meetings, said the purpose of the meter was to show people asking for funds how much money is being wasted on servicing the debt. He said the cost of interest on the $11 billion the province owes comes to about $750 million a year.

By the end of the meeting, the meter was reading about $180,000.

"We use up almost everything we take in in personal income tax. It goes to pay the debt, and I just want people to understand how much it is," he said.

Once upon a time, government used to cling tightly to the quaint conceit that "public consultation" was an opportunity for the public to tell the government what they think.

Now, "public consultation" is seen more as an opportunity for government to tell the public what it thinks, or, perhaps more pointedly, to tell the public what to think.

And, yet again, a body can't help but wonder: just who is Marshall trying to convince, anyway?