
Following the formal announcement last week of the National Defunding Commission (NDC), as established by this column, the commission is pleased to offer its initial report on submissions received on how Canadian governments can begin the long process of reviewing their $900-billion annual spending with a view to defunding as much as possible.
The founding document for the NDC suggested the rough outline of its scope and objectives. The basis for establishing the NDC is the current popularity of applying the concept of defundability to police services. With that in mind, the commission’s core objective is to broaden the idea to set guidelines for a National Defund Plan that would in turn provide direction to a National Defunding Agency.
The purposes of a National Defund Plan would be to review all government spending to identify programs, policies, departments and agencies that could be cut and/or reformed with a view to redistributing money to other more important sectors and priorities, including taxpayers. The defunding agency would then be charged with executing the plan.
Our initial effort was modest and preliminary. As the chairman of the NDC and its sole commissioner and adviser, it is my pleasure to report that requests for submissions produced additional suggestions for defunding, including general support for some of the specific preliminary defunding targets. Enthusiasm for defunding the CBC and corporate subsidies was strong, for example.
[Interesting Read]