The Toronto Star reported over the weekend that the office of Jim Flaherty, Canada's Conservative Finance Minister, paid marketing research consultant Hugh MacPhie a sum of $122,000 for "analysis, assessment and advice" during the preparation of the 2007 Federal budget. This revelation has caused an uproar in the House of Commons for a number of reasons, including the size of the contract ($122,000 for a two month period of work, or alternately, a generous $22 per word) and the fact that the job was not subject to a tendering process, which is required by Treasury Board regulations for any contract of $25 000 or more.
That Mr. MacPhie was previously a speech writer for Conservative Ontario Premier Mike Harris (Mr. Flaherty was Harris's Finance Minister) and that he supported Flaherty's bid for the province's Conservative leadership have afforded the affair an ironic odour of dirty linen; the nepotism displayed in the Liberal sponsorship scandal and the Conservatives' professed commitment to 'accountability' were key to the success of Stephen Harper's 2006 federal election campaign.
But, in the words of S.E. Hinton, that was then, this is now.
Flaherty assured his colleagues in the House today that Mr. MacPhie's contract “provided good value for money". If this is any indication of the state of writing in Canada, these are good times indeed.
I'd like Mr. Flaherty's office to know that I'm available this spring and am willing to go as low as 20 bucks a word.
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