Finance Minister Jim Flaherty resigned yesterday to work in the private sector and current Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver will be named his replacement.

A parliamentary committee has asked ministers’ staff to sign Lifetime Confidentiality Agreements which would inhibit them from sharing information – which has been used by whistle-blowers and lead to revelations in the PMO scandal that has swallowed Conservative support across the country.

Canadian citizens have a right to be concerned, their government is taking the most unprecedented steps in recent history to monitor and manipulate our rights and freedoms. George Orwell wrote his “1984” as a warning and Harper’s government is obsessed with turning it into a handbook.

Wasteful spending in the Treasury Board brings more questions about Tony Clement’s ability to manage public funds.

Canadians angry about Conservative austerity measures have a new reason to be upset. While the cuts the Conservatives made directly impacted services, bureaucracy and federal payrolls ballooned as a result of their governance. In short: Canadians lost services and meat so they could keep useless bureaucrats and fat.

Despite a report two years ago outlining wasteful bureaucracy in the Department of Defense, and despite a cut to the department as part of the Conservatives’ effort to reign in their deficit, the number of civilian staff members rose 30% in six years. For a government that preaches fiscal prudence, there is no place they want to seal off more than the Defense department.

Money may no longer grow on trees but that hasn’t stopped the Conservatives from spending it like there is no tomorrow. Don’t let their austerity fool you, as they cut the services that are vital for the Canadian economy to function, they are funding new senators, a campaign to inform Canadians about the death of the penny, and funny enough, spending much more than the amount that they cut as part of the austerity package.

Who says Canadian politics is boring? Despite being in the first majority government since 2004, politics was easy as government shenanigan continued and controversy ruled The Canadian Political Scene. This post will round up 2012 into one bite-sized image with the big scandals and the party progress reports.

Newly appointed Conservative Senators are finding their perks rather appealing – so appealing that they are cheating taxpayers to cash in. First Patrick Brazeau abused the system, and now Mike Duffy. We can all agree they should repay their takings and we all agree their expenses will never outweigh their salaries. We can, then, agree the housing allowance perk should be scrapped and the savings be refunded.