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- Jul 19, 2011
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Running government like a business a misguided notion
Private sector interests are purely to make money and abuses are well documented.
We are about to watch the ultimate test of a proposition near and dear to the hearts of a good many people. That government should run like a business. Donald Trump, a billionaire business tycoon is going to be the CEO of the United States of America. He has said his country should “run like a business.” But he’s far from alone in that belief.
Kevin O’Leary for example, who may or may not enter the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, has said he’d be a good prime minister because, “You need someone who has run a business.”
It must be conceded that governments at all levels have provided too much ammunition for critics. They’ve been guilty of corrupt or bonehead practices that seem to cry out for rigid, businesslike control.
The federal government rolls out a shiny new payroll system, and a year later thousands of employees still aren’t getting the right amount of dollars in their paycheque, and some aren’t getting a paycheque at all. The Ontario government’s hare-brained schemes for green energy seem to blow up as surely as a stick of dynamite in the hands of Wile E. Coyote. In Toronto, city council agrees to rebuild an expressway, but before even one construction pylon is in place, the projected cost goes up by a billion dollars.
But for every example of government incompetence, there’s a business example that’s worse.
Volkswagen programmed its engines to control emissions only when they were being tested in labs. Once those engines hit the road, they emitted 40 times more pollution. Not to be outdone, Fiat Chrysler installed engine software to disguise the fact that illegal amounts of nitrogen oxides were getting into the air. To be clear, this wasn’t accidental. In the words of the California Air Resources Board, “A major automaker made the business decision to skirt the rules.”
Takata put faulty airbags in millions of North American cars. Then it prepared falsified reports to cover it up. At least 16 people have been killed by those airbags exploding violently.
The Walmart in Fort McMurray, Alta., has been hit with 174 charges of selling food unfit for human consumption after last year’s terrible wildfires. Walmart reacted to the charges with a carefully worded statement that doesn’t deny anything. It just says it worked closely with food inspectors. Those same food inspectors say they gave Walmart guidance in person and in writing and that what the store did was, “a direct and avoidable risk to the health of this community.”
Of course, risking the health of its customers isn’t an uncommon business practice. Big Tobacco spent years denying that smoking caused cancer. Now it more often wraps its lethal work in the veneer of personal freedom. It argues that smoking cigarettes is simply something a grown-up should be allowed to do. Some businesses wouldn’t know a moral principle if it kicked them in the pants. Say what you like about government, but it doesn’t deliberately set out every day to provide people with the means to kill themselves.
The business of sport engages in sketchy manoeuvres all the time. The National Hockey League refuses to outlaw fighting because, it says, fighting causes only about 5 to 10 per cent of concussions in the league. By that logic, there’s no need for government to worry about suicides in this country. It accounts for fewer than 2 per cent of all deaths according to Statistics Canada.
FIFA, the world’s soccer authority, has decided to expand its World Cup tournament from 32 teams to 48. It acknowledges that the quality of play will deteriorate. But it will pull in an extra billion dollars in revenue. Apparently, five and a half-billion dollars wasn’t nearly enough. I suppose the notion of quality can be overrated.
Money is literally the bottom line for business. There’s no such thing as too much. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reported this month that the 100 top CEOs in Canada made an average of $9.5 million dollars in 2015. The top earner was Michael Pearson of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. He made $182.9 million. That’s about 536 times more than our prime minister makes. Looks like the government made a good deal.
Obviously, not every business is evil. But casting all business as inherently better and smarter than all government, is equally misguided. Both business and government are human enterprises. And part of the human condition is messing up.
Mark Bulgutch teaches journalism at Ryerson University. He is the former senior executive producer of CBC News, and the author of That’s Why I’m a Journalist.
Private sector interests are purely to make money and abuses are well documented.
We are about to watch the ultimate test of a proposition near and dear to the hearts of a good many people. That government should run like a business. Donald Trump, a billionaire business tycoon is going to be the CEO of the United States of America. He has said his country should “run like a business.” But he’s far from alone in that belief.
Kevin O’Leary for example, who may or may not enter the race to be the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, has said he’d be a good prime minister because, “You need someone who has run a business.”
It must be conceded that governments at all levels have provided too much ammunition for critics. They’ve been guilty of corrupt or bonehead practices that seem to cry out for rigid, businesslike control.
The federal government rolls out a shiny new payroll system, and a year later thousands of employees still aren’t getting the right amount of dollars in their paycheque, and some aren’t getting a paycheque at all. The Ontario government’s hare-brained schemes for green energy seem to blow up as surely as a stick of dynamite in the hands of Wile E. Coyote. In Toronto, city council agrees to rebuild an expressway, but before even one construction pylon is in place, the projected cost goes up by a billion dollars.
But for every example of government incompetence, there’s a business example that’s worse.
Volkswagen programmed its engines to control emissions only when they were being tested in labs. Once those engines hit the road, they emitted 40 times more pollution. Not to be outdone, Fiat Chrysler installed engine software to disguise the fact that illegal amounts of nitrogen oxides were getting into the air. To be clear, this wasn’t accidental. In the words of the California Air Resources Board, “A major automaker made the business decision to skirt the rules.”
Takata put faulty airbags in millions of North American cars. Then it prepared falsified reports to cover it up. At least 16 people have been killed by those airbags exploding violently.
The Walmart in Fort McMurray, Alta., has been hit with 174 charges of selling food unfit for human consumption after last year’s terrible wildfires. Walmart reacted to the charges with a carefully worded statement that doesn’t deny anything. It just says it worked closely with food inspectors. Those same food inspectors say they gave Walmart guidance in person and in writing and that what the store did was, “a direct and avoidable risk to the health of this community.”
Of course, risking the health of its customers isn’t an uncommon business practice. Big Tobacco spent years denying that smoking caused cancer. Now it more often wraps its lethal work in the veneer of personal freedom. It argues that smoking cigarettes is simply something a grown-up should be allowed to do. Some businesses wouldn’t know a moral principle if it kicked them in the pants. Say what you like about government, but it doesn’t deliberately set out every day to provide people with the means to kill themselves.
The business of sport engages in sketchy manoeuvres all the time. The National Hockey League refuses to outlaw fighting because, it says, fighting causes only about 5 to 10 per cent of concussions in the league. By that logic, there’s no need for government to worry about suicides in this country. It accounts for fewer than 2 per cent of all deaths according to Statistics Canada.
FIFA, the world’s soccer authority, has decided to expand its World Cup tournament from 32 teams to 48. It acknowledges that the quality of play will deteriorate. But it will pull in an extra billion dollars in revenue. Apparently, five and a half-billion dollars wasn’t nearly enough. I suppose the notion of quality can be overrated.
Money is literally the bottom line for business. There’s no such thing as too much. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives reported this month that the 100 top CEOs in Canada made an average of $9.5 million dollars in 2015. The top earner was Michael Pearson of Valeant Pharmaceuticals. He made $182.9 million. That’s about 536 times more than our prime minister makes. Looks like the government made a good deal.
Obviously, not every business is evil. But casting all business as inherently better and smarter than all government, is equally misguided. Both business and government are human enterprises. And part of the human condition is messing up.
Mark Bulgutch teaches journalism at Ryerson University. He is the former senior executive producer of CBC News, and the author of That’s Why I’m a Journalist.
A restaurant cannot simply offer you a dish the chef never learn before. You go eat zi char ask chef to make foil grass for you see how you like it? 
Yes, so of course it is necessary. Be thankful the PAP is looking out for you! 
