Bureaucrats investigated anew

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by Kristian Gravenor

A high-profile reform of the provincial Public Curator's office appears to have been a big-time flop. The government body that manages the affairs of the incapacitated had its wrists slapped by the Auditor General in November, 1997, and again in May, 1998, leading the PQ provincial government to promise a complete reform. The Curator's budget was doubled to $35-million and its staff expanded from 175 to 500, but the bureaucratic beast apparently hasn't changed its spots. In a letter dated October 9, current Auditor General Pauline Champoux-Lesage indicated that yet more malfeasance is being investigated among those who manage and control the assets of the infirm. "I am presently engaged in a lengthy, exacting project with the Public Curator for the purpose of improving its services," she says.

Though the shadowy organization has gone through three leaders since the ballyhooed rehaul, Curator watchdog Ura Greenbaum, of the Association for the Defence of People and Property Under Public Curatorship, says the lives of the 50,000 Quebecers who are in some way managed by the Curator haven't benefited from the much-vaunted reforms. "It's not a healthy relationship, the Curator doesn't cooperate with community organizations or families. They're constantly in battle," says Greenbaum.