2009 was a very dark year for taxpayers. Hopefully 2010 will be different.

Most disappointingly, the Harper government, encouraged (some say forced) by both the NDP and Liberals, broke their three month old election promise to run a balanced budget and are on pace to run a $56 billion deficit - the largest deficit in Canada’s history.

Just about everyone and every project seems to have received their “stimulus” spending, code for passing on higher taxes to future generations.

The feds and the Ontario government purchased 11.7 per cent of GM and 2 per cent of Chrysler. That decision cost taxpayers $14.27 billion, despite polls which showed a majority of Canadians opposed the bailout. The fact that not a single MP in Ottawa stood up to oppose the auto bailouts speaks volumes to the need for democratic reform.

The amount spent by MPs on flyers, skyrocketed from $5.9 million in 2005 to $10 million in 2008-09. For another questionable expenditure, consider a decision by one federal body to spend $11 million to upgrade a research facility in Churchill while another federal agency cut the facility’s operating funding.

In Winnipeg, it was learned that once the Canadian Museum for Human Rights finally opens, it will need $21.7 Million per year in funding from Ottawa, not the $14 million per year that proponents suggested in 2006.

At the provincial level, things were not much better.

The Doer government tabled an $88 million deficit while letting provincial bureaucrats’ wages continue to increase well above the rate of inflation. Even worse, the province completely cancelled their modest plan for cutting personal income taxes in the future.

They spent $175,000 on a small canopy at the legislature and $14 million on provincial ID’s that just over 8,000 Manitobans decided to buy.

School taxes continued to increase across the province despite a drop in the number of students in public schools by 10,000 between 1999/00-2008/09. Costs for the public system increased by $542 million over the same period – more than $291 million above the rate of inflation.

In terms of Hydro, it was learned that Manitobans have paid for over $160 million in dam negotiation costs through their hydro bills over the past decade. Despite allegations of misuse, Hydro has refused to disclose how the funds were spent. Even worse, a former Hydro consultant has raised doubt about the crown corporation’s overall financial footing.

Revelations about a taxpayer funded NDP election scandal from 1999 emerged as did questions about the credibility of all MLA expenses.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom.

On the bright side, MP Candace Hoeppner’s ‘scrap the long gun registry’ bill is moving along in Ottawa and the province reduced its business tax from 13 per cent to 12 percent. Employees of government funded agencies that previously enjoyed “show up for work” bonuses will no longer receive them thanks to efforts by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Clearly there was a lot of taxpayer abuse in 2009. Hopefully 2010 will be more taxpayer-friendly.