{"id":264318,"date":"2016-08-24T10:30:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T14:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T21:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:15:22","slug":"sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Liberal skills negotiating limousine<\/a> and photo contracts<\/a> are any indication, the Chinese are going to end up owning Canada following Justin Trudeau\u2019s maiden voyage there next week.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not saying Liberal ministers are naive, but at the moment no one can get through to any of them because the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross are jamming their phone lines with offers of prime swampland.<\/p>\n

First it was Health Minister Jane Philpott and her Cadillac-priced-if-not-actual-Cadillac \u201cexecutive sedan\u201d rides. In case you missed it because you were too busy struggling to get by, there was the $1700 tool around the GTA, followed by a $1900 saunter to Niagara, with twenty $190 rides to the airport thrown in for good measure. The owner of the service? A volunteer on her recent campaign. Whatever happened to Friends and Family discounts?<\/p>\n

Then came word that Environment Minister Catherine McKenna was so proud to present Stephen Harper\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions plan to the recent Paris climate change conference that she had every waking moment captured by a French photographer, to the gassy tune of $6,600<\/a>. No wonder \u201cCanada is back\u201d (in deficit)!<\/p>\n

Trudeau needs to nip this carelessness with taxpayer dollars in the bud. These are the cuts that eventually add up to a thousand and do in a government. Most citizens can\u2019t get their heads around billions of dollars in deficits, but they know what a cab ride costs, and they know they don\u2019t have the money to hire a photo diarist.<\/p>\n

The ministers in question are hardly rubes; indeed, both McKenna and Philpott are intelligent and exactly the kind of people we want in public life. So what happened?<\/p>\n

Government happened. You never spend other people\u2019s money as carefully as you spend your own. Having an entire departmental budget in your hands can feel, in the wrong hands anyway, like winning the lottery. Philpott would no sooner have forked over two hundred of her own bucks for a ride to the airport than Bev Oda would have forked over her own dosh to cover the $16 orange juice<\/a> of legend.<\/p>\n

As her followers on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> know, McKenna is adept at taking her own photo, so why the rush to hire a professional to produce snaps that no one but her department were going to use? Because Canada wasn\u2019t going to announce anything substantial on climate change, appearance became everything.<\/p>\n

For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mouthed the right words when pressed on Philpott\u2019s spending at the Liberal cabinet retreat. He said it was right for Philpott to apologize and vowed not to repeat the error. That McKenna\u2019s revelation came the very night he promised better must surely rankle.<\/p>\n

A smart move would be to post, as the Canadian Taxpayers\u2019 Federation has suggested, all ministerial expenses online. Currently, only general descriptions<\/a> of expenses by ministers and their staff are disclosed on a quarterly basis. Nothing concentrates the mind like knowing your spending habits will be subject to the scrutiny of the people who pay your salary. It the prospect of your spending appearing on a front page terrifies you, the money probably shouldn\u2019t be spent.<\/p>\n

Indeed, all MPs should commit to posting their expenses online. Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant.<\/p>\n

Photo: Nathan Denette \/ The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0<\/em>discussion, and send in your own submission. Here is a<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/em>on how to do it. |\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ? <\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0<\/em>et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If Liberal skills negotiating limousine and photo contracts are any indication, the Chinese are going to end up owning Canada following Justin Trudeau\u2019s maiden voyage there next week. I\u2019m not saying Liberal ministers are naive, but at the moment no one can get through to any of them because the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":251630,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T01:15:24Z","apple_news_api_id":"5b7eff85-f04d-4a77-a4e1-f124385d6f1c","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T01:15:24Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AW37_hfBNSnek4fEkOF1vHA","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9358,9372],"tags":[9132],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-264318","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-politique-canadienne","irpp-category-politique"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nSunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If Liberal skills negotiating limousine and photo contracts are any indication, the Chinese are going to end up owning Canada following Justin Trudeau\u2019s maiden voyage there next week. I\u2019m not saying Liberal ministers are naive, but at the moment no one can get through to any of them because the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Policy Options\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T01:15:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@irpp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/\",\"name\":\"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-24T14:30:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T01:15:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":700},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\",\"name\":\"Policy Options\",\"description\":\"Institute for Research on Public Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant","og_description":"If Liberal skills negotiating limousine and photo contracts are any indication, the Chinese are going to end up owning Canada following Justin Trudeau\u2019s maiden voyage there next week. I\u2019m not saying Liberal ministers are naive, but at the moment no one can get through to any of them because the cast of Glengarry Glen Ross […]","og_url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/","og_site_name":"Policy Options","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org","article_modified_time":"2025-10-08T01:15:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@irpp","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/","name":"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png","datePublished":"2016-08-24T14:30:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T01:15:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/WordPress-Image-jane-philpott.png","width":2000,"height":700},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2016\/08\/sunshine-not-sunny-ways-is-the-best-disinfectant\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sunshine, not sunny ways, is the best disinfectant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/","name":"Policy Options","description":"Institute for Research on Public Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues\/264318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issues"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264318"},{"taxonomy":"article-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-status?post=264318"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-category?post=264318"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=264318"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-tag?post=264318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}