OTTAWA - An independent investigator hired by the Harper government to look into past Liberal polling practices has wound up shining an unfavourable light on the Tories' penchant for polling.
Daniel Paille notes that the Conservative government commissioned more than two polls per business day in the past year, a figure he calls "quite astounding.''
His report shows that the government spent $31.2 million on opinion research in the last year -- more than any previous year and almost twice the $18 million spent on average during the Liberal years.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Paille, a former Parti Quebecois cabinet minister, last April to conduct a probe of federal contracts for public opinion research between 1990 and 2003.
The objective was to determine whether a judicial inquiry into the previous Liberal government's polling practices was warranted.
But Paille's report -- which was released Thursday after sitting for two months in the government's hands -- concludes "it would not be worthwhile'' to pursue further in-depth inquiries into public opinion research contracts during that period.
Paille also "took the liberty'' of exceeding his mandate to examine public opinion research contracts awarded by the federal government up to the present. On that score, his report includes some pointed observations about flaws in the polling practices of the current government.
He notes, for instance, that the Harper government commissioned 546 opinion research projects in the last year alone.
Public Works Minister Michael Fortier pointed out that the report shows previous Liberal governments actually commissioned more opinion research in some years -- reaching a peak of 686 projects in 2001-02 _-- even though they spent less on them.
"It is the spend per poll . . . that has gone up,'' Fortier said in an interview. "We just need to be smarter in how we buy polls.''
Fortier said the government will implement all of Paille's recommendations and announced some immediate measures aimed at reducing the amount and cost of public opinion research and ensuring better value for money.
"It will be well managed and less expensive for taxpayers,'' he vowed.
However, opposition critics questioned the value gleaned for the money spent on Paille's report, which cost about $610,000.
"They have thrown $650,000 out the window,'' said Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez.
Liberal critic says late release a problem
Mark Holland, the Liberals' public works critic, said Harper's intended "partisan witch hunt'' into Grit polling practices has backfired on the Tories.
He said that explains why Fortier sat on the report for two months before finally releasing it late on the same day that all eyes were on former prime minister Brian Mulroney's testimony before the Commons ethics committee.
"Clearly, they didn't want anyone actually paying attention to this report,'' Holland said.
Liberals pointed out that Auditor General Sheila Fraser has already looked at past Grit polling practices from 1999 to 2003 and found no evidence of corruption or wasteful spending.
"For the most part, we found that the federal government was managing (it) in a transparent manner and with adequate controls,'' Fraser wrote in a 2003 report.
At a subsequent parliamentary hearing, Fraser was mildly critical that an Ottawa firm with close ties to Paul Martin -- Earnscliffe -- had occasionally provided undocumented, verbal, budget-making advice from 1999 to 20002, when Martin was finance minister.
Paille has little to add to Fraser's assessment of the 1999-2003 period and even less about the preceding years.
Prior to 1999, Paille found that most files on opinion research contracts have been destroyed, consistent with government policy. It was thus impossible for him to conduct a detailed review of that period.
Among his recommendations, Paille suggests that the government review its policy on retention of old administrative records.
Nevertheless, Paille says he learned enough from documents given to him in confidence or submitted to Parliament and from previous audits to conclude that "the issue of public opinion research prior to 1999 should be permanently closed.''
Paille chides the current government for failing to negotiate reduced bulk rates for syndicated polls, wherein a number of different government departments purchase the same survey. He suggests that the problem, flagged by Fraser in 2003, has gotten worse under the Tories.
Fraser found 10 copies of the annual Rethinking Government syndicated survey, produced by Ekos Research Associates, had been purchased in 2002-03. Paille found that had grown to 15 copies in the last year.
As for government using polling for partisan purposes, Paille says he found no evidence of that in research commissioned by the government. However, some of the syndicated polls, produced for multiple clients in and out of government, do stray into the political realm.
For instance, he cites a 2006-07 syndicated poll that asked respondents whether they approve or disapprove of the way in which Harper and various premiers were doing their jobs.
Paille recommends the government adopt a "zero tolerance approach'' in future, cancelling the contract if a supplier fails to strictly maintain the principle of political neutrality.
