The Saskatchewan government lost at least $35 million of taxpayers' money on Spudco, and not a single political soul has been held to account for it. This must change.

The late-90's foray into the potato industry was a policy and management failure of historic magnitude. Considering the size of our provincial budget, it makes the federal sponsorship scandal look miniscule. And that's saying a lot, considering that our provincial government is prone to such gaffs. You might recall the $6 million lost on electronic bingo, the land titles boondoggle, the millions lost on Mind's Eye Entertainment and countless other taxpayer-funded fishing expeditions.

The story is so often told and discussed, the government so pathetically responsible, that you would think we would all be walking away from the subject, confident it will never happen again. But that's not the case. The government's refusal to take responsibility and admit any wrongdoing continues to fuel the debate.

The government waged a vicious court battle against the plaintiffs who sued them for damages. They even stooped so low as to file a counter-claim of fraud against the group of potato farmers and their internationally-recognized accounting firm, thereby extending the law suit past the recent general election and keeping the details hidden behind a veil of court-decreed secrecy. The government - meaning taxpayers - got their clocks cleaned by the plaintiffs.

In February 2003, the Premier dispatched his top deputy Dan Perrins to conduct an internal review of the matter. The Perrins Report, as it has come to be known, reads like a pathetic comedy of errors - a government entranced by the possibility of building a potato industry in the run up to an election, rushed into action to capitalize on an impending growing season while only planning to spend "a few million" tax dollars. Who knew Maybe it might flip them a seat in the Outlook region

We all know how the story ends. Spudco ran out of money, and dragged all the investors in the region down with them. The Perrins Report actually documents one of the NDP's significant missteps on this file - keeping the public in the dark about the nature of the deal. Throughout the ordeal, Saskatchewan taxpayers were told that the government was a minority partner in Spudco. The minister responsible, Eldon Lautermilch, actually put that in writing to a potential contractor.

The facts, as they stand, show that this was clearly not the case and that Lautermilch knew it. The government had actually taken on ALL of the risk related to the potato storage sheds, and it would be taxpayers - not private investors - who would shoulder the burden when this absurd business venture fell apart.

Premier Calvert meekly acknowledged this in his response to his deputy's report by saying "Minister Lautermilch ought not to have signed that letter."

Ought not to have signed a letter that lies about taxpayer involvement in a failing business scheme That's quite an understatement.

The government has acknowledged that at various stages of the scandal, "things were said" that were "untrue." Was there a government-wide effort to hide the details of the Spudco fiasco If they wrote this "ought not" letter, how many others were there and what exactly were they hiding

The only way we'll find out all the details and prevent this kind of profound abuse of public funds from ever happening again is to hold a thorough public inquiry. Call your MLA, write letters and emails and get angry. The government isn't telling us the truth, and government deception can not be tolerated in a healthy democracy.