William Gladstone, a former chancellor of the Exchequer and a four-time prime minister of the United Kingdom, warned in 1891 that “if the House of Commons by any responsibility loses the power of the control of public money, depend on it, your very liberty will be worth very little in comparison.” I fear that this is exactly what is happening in our country. The F-35 debacle is “Exhibit A.” Canada’s House of Commons has lost the power of the purse and members of Parliament (MPs) spend little time scrutinizing spending. Currently our MPs routinely vote on legislation without knowledge of policy specifics and their related financial implications. Real debate with analysis on Parliament Hill is virtually dead. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have made this happen while the vast majority of the public service have silently stood by and watched.

Excerpted from Unaccountable: Truth, Lies and Numbers on Parliament Hill, by Kevin Page. © 2015 Kevin Page. Published by Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.