TIM BELFORD

It's alphabet soup to moi, eh?

Do you ever wonder why we in Quebec can't afford more money for health care?

Or why we can't seem to find more tax dollars for education?

According to the government, we just don't collect enough revenue from the toiling classes.

Mind you, since we are probably the most taxed jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere, I find that reasoning a little suspect.

Could it be, God forbid, that those who govern just aren't very good with a buck?

I know it's sacrilege to even suggest it but could there be just a tad wasted in our spending?

Could it be we've got one too many acronyms? One too many SOPDIPS or MALPECS or cashdumps?

Take, for example, youth.

Now, like most Quebecers, I'm all for youth. I want them to be healthy, happy, and well educated. I want their little bottoms wiped and their psyches free of stress.

That's probably why our legislators in their wisdom set up the CDPDJ - the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse.

Mind you, we've also got a CJE - the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi -- so they can all find meaningful work.

And for those too young to work we've got the CQRPE - the Centre de ressource a la petite enfance.

Then there's the CPJ - the Conseil permanent de la jeunesse, the DPJ - the Direction de la protection de la jeunesse, the CPEJ - the Centre de protection de l'enfance et de la jeunesse, the CFE - the Conseil de la famille et de l'enfance and the OFQJ - the Office franco-quebecois pour la jeunesse.

And I'd be willing to bet my miserable weekly stipend that each one of those collection of letters has a set of offices, a directorate, and umpteen minions to push the paper back and forth.

And it's not just young people who reap the benefit of the alphabet soup of bureaucracy.

We like to look after our workers as well.

There's the CNT - the Commission des normes de travail, the CSST - the Commission de la sante et de la securite du travail, the CLE - the Centre local d'emploi, the CES - the Commission de l'equite salariale, its sister the IRSST - the Institut de recherche et d'information sur la remuneration and the OPQ - the Office des professions du quebec.

Heck, we've even got something called SOQUIP - the Societe quebecoise d'initiatives petroliere.

I can only presume it looks after our vast oil fields because the MRNF - the Miinstere des resources naturelles et de la faune -- is too busy with our diamond mines.

And so it continues in health, education, culture, and agriculture where we've got more governnment agencies than crops.

I guess one can only be thankful there's just twenty-six letters in the alphabet.