? Carriers | Main | Spybot ?
December 05, 2003
Protection
The Ontario government is on the job protecting us from pronography (via Samizdata).
Ontario's provincial auditor says the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services officials have carried out almost 1,600 inspections of adult video retail stores after claiming to have received eight complaints - none in writing. Those inspections involved checking whether the stores had valid licences "and were selling adult videos only with proper stickers indicating their ratings," the report states.
In the same time there were about 4,000 complaints and inquiries related to debt collectors last year, including 800 written, formal complaints. Despite the avalanche, it's claimed the ministry carried out only 10 inspections. Similarly, almost 2,000 complaints about motor vehicle repairs prompted just six inspections.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at December 5, 2003 07:03 AM
Comments
This is almost beyond parody. And civil servants wonder why they are reviled by us hard-working private-sector joes.
Since our tax dollars paid for these 1,600 inspections, does this mean we can request copies of the inspection reports from the government? I'd like to see what I paid for.
Posted by: Chris Taylor at December 5, 2003 06:24 PM
Beyond parody is right. I can only imagine how funny this would seem if I had been ripped off by an autoshop and been living under the illusion the Consumer and Business Services people had been on the job. I wonder how we could go about getting access to these inspection reports under access to information legislation...
Posted by: Nicholas Packwood at December 6, 2003 02:26 AM
I think the smart play is to get some professional media type involved. Someone who will play the high dudgeon card and get all wound up about it, and then publish it or broadcast it somewhere. Like Margaret Wente or Christie Blatchford. Do you have any connections to an enterprising non-moonbat journo type who might take up the case?
Posted by: Chris Taylor at December 7, 2003 05:37 PM