Ezra Levant attends a conference of grantrepreneurs, people who exist on and for public subsidies. Not a pretty sight.

He asks a very pertinent question:

Can an NGO really be an NGO — a non-governmental organization — if it is organized, or paid for, by the government? Friday’s conference wasn’t for NGOs. It was for GONGOs — government organized non-governmental organizations.

Indeed.

My idea.

Any so-called non-governmental organisation which receives either (a) more than 10% of its total income from government or other official sources of public funds, or (b) more than £10m of such money in any one tax year should be brought within the Freedom of Information Act, so that we can all see what they get up to with our money.

Oxfam for example took in up to £70m from different publicly funded sources in 2006/07 – that’s 35 times the size of the Embassy Budget in Warsaw, every penny of which is subject to FOI scrutiny. As a taxpayer why should I not have the right to get honest answers from Oxfam on how my money was spent?

Fair’s fair.