Interesting
things are missed when there is so much news happening around the world.
The
Valentine’s Day school massacre in Florida, the prime minister’s Indian
debacle, this winter’s weird weather (snow in Rome and San Diego!) have
consumed newspage and newscast space recently.
Little
noticed was the 20TH annual Teddy Awards, given out each February to
our governments’ most wasteful spenders.
The
Teddies are pig statues awarded by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
They are named for a guy who was fired as head of the Canada Labour Relations
Board for dubious expense claims, including a $700 lunch for two. (Hey, the
lunch was in Paris, which can be pricey!)
This
year the federal category Teddy was awarded to the Department of Canadian
Heritage, which built a Canada 150 outdoor skating rink on Parliament Hill at a
cost of $8.2 million. That works out to $100,000 a day for the time the rink
was open.
The
rink was widely criticized because of
its strict rules, including no food or drink on the ice, no cell phones, no
hockey sticks or pucks, no figure skating, and no children in arms. An
exception to the hockey prohibition was Hockey on the Hill, a peewee tournament
for kids across Canada but that was cancelled and moved to an indoor arena
because the weather was considered too cold.
Skaters
were limited to 45 minutes skating time and required to book times online.
Just
a hard slapshot away from the
multi-million dollar rink is the Rideau Canal Skateway, Canada’s most
renowned outdoor rink.
There
were impressive runners up in the federal Teddy category: Health Canada for
spending $100,000 a year for the minister’s Twitter account, and Finance Canada
for blowing $192,000 to advertise the federal budget, which received hours of
news media coverage.
Canada
Revenue won the 2017 award for moving an employee from Richmond Hill to
Belleville at a cost of $538,000. Of that amount $340,000 was for “price
protection” on the employee’s $3.4 million house and $168,000 was for real
estate fees.
Ontario’s
Wynne government won this year’s provincial category Teddy for its vote-getting
strategy to reduce our electricity bills. The province borrowed money to reduce
electricity bills for a few years, but the provincial auditor-general has said
the sleight of hand will cost taxpayers an additional $39 billion in the end.
Last
year the Ontario government was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Teddy for its “long track record of mismanaging the province’s energy
policy.” The provincial auditor general has reported that between 2006 and 2014
Ontario consumers have paid $37 billion above market price for energy because
of the government’s mismanagement of energy policy.
This
year’s provincial category runner up was the head of Engage Nova Scotia who
earns $163,000 year despite, according to the CTF, not being able to explain
what Engage Nova Scotia does. It is financially supported by the province’s
Liberal government and the boss is a former Nova Scotia Liberal leader.
The
annual Teddy awards are impressive because there is never a dearth of potential
nominees in all levels of government across Canada.
“Sadly, we are never
short on nominees, as governments seem to be very good at finding new ways to
waste money,” said Aaron Wudrick, a CTF director.
Canada of course is not
the only country where taxpayers money is washed down the sewers of
bureaucratic stupidity. In Washington, D.C., Housing Secretary Ben Carson
ordered a $31,000 custom hardwood dining set for his office. The order was
placed about the same time Carson was circulating plans to slash his
department’s programs for the homeless, elderly and the poor.
And, the U.S. National Parks Service paid $65,473 for a study to
figure out what bugs do at night when a light is turned on.
Anyone in cottage country could have supplied the answer: when
sitting outside on your deck never turn on a light or you’ll be bombarded by a
million insects.
That 65 grand could have been better used to get the answers to
more important questions like “How many bureaucrats does it take to screw in a
light bulb?
Oh well, it’s only taxpayer money.
No comments:
Post a Comment