The Waste Watch - Government waste federal and provincial

[styky]

Summit extras add up
Posted By PETER ZIMONJIC, PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU
Posted 1 hour ago


The federal government has spent almost $20 million paying for dancing troupes, singers, fiddlers, meals and floral arrangements in preparation for the G8 and G20 meetings this month.

Documents released through access to information reveal the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has issued 156 contracts over the last year for prep meetings in the Northwest Territories, Victoria, Calgary, Quebec City and elsewhere.

These expenses all come on top of the already staggering $1 billion the federal government will spend on security to protect foreign leaders at the G8 and G20 summits in Ontario cottage country and Toronto later this month.

In one example of pre-meeting spending, the feds dolled out almost $22,000 for floral arrangements and interior design "enhancements" to the Royal Ottawa Golf Club. The G8 Foreign Minister's met briefly at the venue in March as a part of a series of warm up sessions before the G20 and G8 summits.

According to the documents, obtained by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin, the feds not only lavished the golf club with flowers but paid the club almost $11,000 for a "working dinner" for the visiting G8 foreign ministers.

This came on top of $6,468 in limo rentals during the two-day March meetings and another $35,437 contract awarded to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier to host a portion of the event.

In all, DFAIT has issued 156 contracts worth a total of $19.3 million but information relating to $15.7 million of those contracts has been blocked in whole or in part preventing QMI Agency from seeing the supplier or the work done.

One of the blacked out contracts is worth $4.6 million.

Government officials explained information was being kept from public view over fears anti-globalization extremists, such as the ones that bombed a retail bank in Ottawa last month, could target the suppliers of services to the summits.

A common theme that emerged in the uncensored portions of the documents was the penchant for holding prep-meetings with support staff or political directors everywhere but where the summits are to be hosted.

For example, the feds paid out at least $120,000 to host a meeting of summit support staff in Yellowknife, NWT, where taxpayers picked up the tab for $50,000 in hotel rooms, $43,000 in air charters and almost $9,000 for an evening of entertainment that included throat singers, dancers and Metis fiddling.

In another instance the feds paid nearly $4,000 to give visiting officials a tour of the winter carnival in Quebec City in February before picking up a tab at the Chateau Frontenac for over $8,000.

Political directors were also hosted at the Fairmont Empress Victoria Hotel at a cost of $30,000 with another $1,000 thrown into the pot to hire the Le-La-La native dance troupe for entertainment.

In what is promising to be the most expensive summit in history, the feds also paid out more than $120,000 in contracts for a youth summit that is planned to run alongside the main summit in Toronto, including almost $90,000 on accommodations.
Article ID# 2603708
http://www.recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2603708

[styky]

How much is this exerciser in futility costing. What a waste


StatsCan hits road to study residents' physical well-being
Winnipeg Free Press - Britt Harvey
By the time StatsCan's poking and prodding and pricking of participants if completed in 2011, health data from nearly 11000 Canadians will have been ... <a href=http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/statscan-hits-road-to-study-residents-physical-well-being-95503634.html>continued</a>

[styky]

Bank of Canada payouts 'offensive'

By BRYN WEESE, Parliamentary Bureau

Last Updated: June 3, 2010
OTTAWA - Senior officers at the Bank of Canada raked in $458,832 in performance bonuses in 2009, QMI Agency has learned.

But that's nothing compared to the $8.3 billion the country's largest private banks doled out in bonuses in 2009.

According to documents obtained through Access to Information requests by Ottawa researcher Ken Rubin, the Bank of Canada performance pay -- given as lump sums for staff who "exceeds most" or "fully exceed" expectations -- was doled out to 33 senior officers at the country's national bank.

The average is just under $14,000 for the 33 recipients.

But even though the amount is small, NDP MP Pat Martin said bonuses for public employees is "offensive" as a matter of principle.

"The Bank of Canada is not a private business. It's not tied to performance or productivity outcomes," Martin said. "It's not a profit-making venture where you can measure a good year from a bad year ... What is the merit they are being rewarded for, coming to work on time?"

Salaries for senior officers at the Bank of Canada last year ranged from $122,555 to $247,470. This year, salaries will range from $124,393 to $251,182.

According to the documents, more than 40% of eligible senior officers did not receive a bonus last year, and only 59% of eligible employees have received bonuses at the bank on average for the past three years.

Since 2007, the Bank of Canada has paid out just over $1 million in bonuses, averaging just over $12,000 per bonus recipient.

In 2009, 10 officers "fully exceeded" expectations and received the maximum bonus of 12% of their salary, while 23 other officers exceeded "most" expectations and were given a 6% bonus.

Neither the governor nor the deputy governor of the Bank of Canada are eligible.

While Martin argues the system creates divisiveness among public sector workers -- labelling some as winners and some as losers -- he's most worried about their effect on productivity.

"It creates backstabbing in the public service, stepping on others to get ahead. It's counter-productive to any kind of cooperative approach to public service," he said.

But Kevin Gaudet, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, likes the idea of bonuses in the public sector specifically because he thinks they create a more efficient workforce.

"That motivates them to actually get goals accomplished," he said.

"If somebody in procurement, for example, could figure out ways to spend less on IT programs, or whatever, they should be compensated appropriately for that.

"Otherwise you don't have motives to do better."

The Bank of Canada declined to comment for the story.

http://www.ottawasun.com/news/canada/20 ... 39146.html

[styky]

Rights agency has spent a half million over internal battle


By Juliet O'Neill, Canwest News Service June 9, 2010

OTTAWA — Rights and Democracy has spent at least $502,000 of taxpayer funds on private investigators, legal and public relations advisers and an audit that is many weeks overdue.

Figures submitted to the House of Commons foreign affairs committee also show lawyer Jacques Gauthier charged $56,700 for the two months he served as interim president of the agency that has been in turmoil for months.

Gauthier, a board member, paid fellow board member Marco Navarro-Genie $2,925 to act as an adviser on an unspecified matter, Gerard Latulippe, the president since March 29, said in the letter released Wednesday.

Latulippe responded to a committee request for information after Gauthier admitted to MPs he broke board bylaws by hiring outside investigators, legal and PR firms without tender. The agency bylaw requires at least three bids for contracts worth more than $10,000.

Latulippe said "I don't have any contract" for a $37,392.80 invoice from corporate law firm Ogilvy Renault or for a $6,781.61 invoice from law firm Woods LLP, specialists in litigation.

The letter was released by Paul Dewar, New Democratic Party foreign affairs critic. He said the agency has "blown" five per cent of its annual budget of about $11 million on self-induced turmoil and the bills are still mounting.

"It's a profound irony," he added in an interview, that while some board members claim they are bolstering accountability, they authorized untendered contracts with no spending ceilings.

The Montreal-based, government-appointed agency is formally known as the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. It was plunged into turmoil last year after the appointment of new board members who objected to grants given to human-rights organizations known to be critical of Israel's human-rights record.

The letter shows more than $230,700 was spent on law firm Borde Ladner Gervais for legal advice; more than $120,600 for a forensic audit by Samson Belair/Deloitte & Touche; nearly $92,000 for an ongoing investigation by SIRCO Solutions, a private investigation firm. Prima Communications charged more than $14,400 for six weeks of work. The invoices were for services between late January and April 1, 2010.

"The SIRCO investigation has not been completed," Latulippe said. "The report will form the basis of our defence in litigation institute against Rights and Democracy by its former employees and, in other circumstances, would be privileged and confidential."

He said the retainer agreement would remain secret until revealed during or after court proceedings.

Three senior managers who accused three board members of systemic personal attacks on the late Remy Beauregard, former president, were fired in March and have filed a lawsuit, seeking $1.4 million in damages on grounds they were victims of a political purge.

Beauregard died of a heart attack after an acrimonious meeting with the board on Jan. 8 and the turmoil began to spill onto the public stage.

Dewar called for the dismissal of four of the nine board members who have been involved in the events: Gauthier, Navarro-Genie, Aurel Braun and Elliot Tepper.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Rights ... z0qSA22J4w

[styky]

Privy Council execs reap performance pay in tough times

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau Chief

Last Updated: June 9, 2010 7:06pm

OTTAWA - Top bureaucrats at the Privy Council Office pocketed nearly $1.6 million in performance pay during the height of the recession.

According to figures from the 2008-09 fiscal year, 124 employees in the department that advises federal cabinet and the Prime Minister's Office received lump-sum bonuses related to "the extent to which key commitments were accomplished."

Performance payments ranged from $2,748 to $37,240, with an average of about $13,000.

Details were released from the PCO after a formal request from Liberal MP Brian Murphy.

NDP MP Pat Martin slammed the merit cash, insisting it has no place in the public service because it has the "perverse consequence" of fostering backstabbing, discontent and bad morale in the workplace.

Calling it a "disturbing trend," he said deserving employees should have more pay built in to their salaries instead of bonuses.

Martin also rejected the rationale that government should operate like a business.

"You can't measure performance in the same way that you can measure outcomes in the private sector," he said. "We have to build an environment where people do their best and are paid fairly - not having winners and losers and arbitrary merit bonuses."

Peter Coleman, president of the National Citizens Coalition, said the lack of clarity over justification for the extra pay is "troubling" - especially in today's tough economic environment.

"Until we've returned to running very small deficits or surpluses, these bonuses should stop," he said. "People are lucky to still have their jobs.

There is a disconnect between people in the private sector and people in the government. They keep getting raises and bonuses and most of us are struggling to keep our jobs."

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2 ... 26691.html

[styky]

Ex-CEO: $25,637 a month too stingy

By ALLISON JONES The Canadian Press
Mon. Jun 14 - 4:53 AM
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1187250.html
TORONTO — Eleanor Clitheroe, who made millions at the helm of Hydro One Inc. before being fired, is arguing it is "pure vindictiveness" for the government to limit her pension.

Clitheroe, who was dismissed in July 2002 after weeks of controversy over executive salaries at the province’s publicly owned transmission utility, is suing Hydro One.

Clitheroe is arguing she is entitled to $33,644.21 a month — slightly more than the average Hydro One pensioner gets annually.

Her pension is capped at $25,637.08 a month — or $307,644.96 a year — due to legislation passed by the government limiting executive salaries at the utility, but Clitheroe is arguing she should receive $464,133.84 per year.

The lawsuit was originally dismissed, but in appealing it Clitheroe notes she worked 16-hour days and earned bonuses for her performance and is the only income earner for a family of four.

The Court of Appeal for Ontario is set to hear arguments on Tuesday.

Clitheroe earned $741,000 in 1999, $1.4 million in 2000, $1.7 million in 2001 and $1.5 million in 2002.

In 2001, her last full year of work at Hydro One, she took home more than $2.2 million, including $174,000 for a car and $172,000 for vacation.

She has since become an Anglican priest.

Her lawyers suggest Clitheroe’s move to the public sector from CIBC was largely because of an attractive pension package, saying except for pensions compensation in the private sector far outstrips that of the public sector.

Ignoring this fact deprives Clitheroe of her Charter right to "life, liberty and security of the person," her lawyers argue in court documents filed in advance of the hearing.

"Over the course of 13 years she committed herself, through hard work, to her choice and had every expectation that the deferred income represented by the pension would be honoured," they write in court documents.

In June 2002 the Ontario legislature passed the Hydro One Directors and Officers Act, which contained a section imposing a maximum on amounts that senior officers could claim as a supplementary pension.

[styky]

Bureaucrats offered $10,000 to find savings
Save money, earn cash, public servants told
By DAVID AKIN, National Bureau Chief
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/20 ... 87076.html

OTTAWA — Federal civil servants will be offered big cash bonuses if they can figure out ways to save big bucks for taxpayers.

Treasury Board President Stockwell Day said Monday he's setting up a new program to encourage bureaucrats in select government departments to deliver the same government programs and services but do it with fewer taxpayer dollars.

Those who come up with the right idea will qualify for up to $10,000 in bonuses.

“This is a win-win situation for everyone. Employees are rewarded for creativity and innovation and taxpayers benefit from improved service and more effective use of taxpayer dollars," Day said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has tapped Day to find ways to dig Canada out of from its record $56-billion deficit by cutting the cost of government.

Opposition critics are skeptical that a nip-and-tuck cost-cutting strategy will give Day and the Conservatives the massive savings needed to get back to balanced budgets.

"The Conservatives seem to think that they can get rid of the $56-billion deficit by giving out prizes!" said Liberal MP Siobhan Coady.

The Liberals and NDP argue that if the Conservatives want to wipe out the deficit, they need to put a halt to planned multibillion-dollar corporate tax cuts

[styky]

Political junkets cost taxpayers $1.6M

By Althia Raj, Parliamentary Bureau

Last Updated: July 3, 2010
OTTAWA — MPs and senators spent more than $1.6 million criss-crossing the globe to attend meetings in locations such as Paris and Geneva last year.

Federal politicians enjoyed all-expense paid study trips to Japan, China and the United Kingdom, as well as trips to Bermuda, Australia, and Trinidad and Tobago, according to data compiled by QMI Agency.

While parliamentarians defended the trips as extremely valuable, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s Kevin Gaudet believes a chainsaw should be used to slash the “junkets’” budgets.

“All they do is fly around, drink champagne, eat caviar at taxpayers' expense and talk to other officials from other countries to dream up new schemes to spend more of our cash,” he said.

Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert, who spent $20,744 travelling with a senator to Tokyo last year for an “annual visit,” said MPs have “no budgets to travel” and all expenses incurred are documented publicly.

“When I hear this junket nonsense, it just infuriates me,” he said. “I don’t have to justify anything I do, because it is very clear what I do. The other day, I met with the prime minister of Vietnam. Why? Because, I am chair of the Canada-Vietnam association. I’ve had high-level contacts for years.”

Wilfert said his trips to Japan helped convince officials to appoint a military attaché at the embassy in Ottawa.

Conservative MP Brad Trost, who went on five trips with the Canada-U.S. association, said they're jam-packed although he admits some sightseeing is often included in the itinerary.

“In Washington, you are trying to see 50 congressman in three days. You start at 8 a.m. and you go to about 6 p.m.,” he said, noting sleep arrangements are more in line with the Comfort Inn than five-star hotels.

Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk, co-chair of the joint committee that decides how much is spent on travel by parliamentary associations each year, said he wanted to axe its budget but was unsuccessful getting other MPs and senators on board.

In the end, the budget was trimmed by $25,000 and frozen at $3.5 million. With $1 million spent each year on membership fees for six associations, $2.5 million is left for travel abroad and hosting international delegations in Canada.

In 2009, Canadian taxpayers spent $1,611,699.94 on 86 trips although the figure is sure to be higher as some delegations still haven’t reported on their activities and spending, despite a House of Commons rule obligating details be released within 20 sitting days of their return.

MPs and senators follow public service rules and are allowed to fly business class on flights over nine hours, but some travel appears to flaunt the rules, such as transportation bills for two to Geneva for $7,940.

Conservative Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin, a member of the NATO parliamentary association who travelled 11 times in 2009 to visit foreign bases and attend various meetings, said the federal government often uses parliamentarians to lobby their counterparts on certain files.

Liberal Sen. Wilfred Moore said maintaining a presence in Washington is especially important because competition for lawmakers’ attention is fierce.

“You have got to be there to remind them about who we are…and the importance of Canada to the U.S. economy,” he said. “If you don’t do that, they move on.”
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2 ... 77641.html

[RedDog]

I don't have a problem with general diplomacy. There are things that need to be done to play on the international stage.

What I see more and more are things setting up the band leader for riches and rewards AFTER being out of office. Harper is putting on a good show but Obama will shatter all manner of respectability in 18 months. This was his 15 minutes and he'll look to make it pay for decades.

[styky]

Fraudsters bilk government site
Security problems plagued eBay-style auction created to unload surplus goods
By DEAN BEEBY The Canadian Press
Sun. Jul 4 - 4:53 AM

OTTAWA — Credit card fraudsters using the federal government’s online auction website have made off with at least $23,000 worth of goods.

Internal records show bank officials first alerted the Public Works Department to the problem last August, but it took until December to fix it.

The auction site, GCSurplus, was launched in January 2009 to sell a range of surplus and used government goods, from computers and filing cabinets to aircraft and boats.

The federal government sells about $14 million worth of surplus and used items each year, and the online service was intended to help improve revenues. There are about 30,000 registered online buyers.

The GCSurplus site, modelled partly on eBay, allows users to post bids via the Internet though it is not a live auction displaying the highest bid in real time. Instead, after the auction ends, the winning bid is posted.

Successful bidders can pay by credit card and pick up the goods, but the system as initially designed lacked proper security verification.

"People have been registering on GCSurplus with bogus names and bid very high to win, then pay with stolen credit cards over the phone," says a Dec. 1 email from Public Works official Mike Fabbro. "Because buyers don’t have to register a credit card at the outset, we have no recourse."

Fabbro added in another email that GCSurplus "was targeted by a very small number of fraudsters, that were very adept at manipulating our process to their financial gain."

Documents outlining the problem were obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act. Public Works took six months to respond to the request.

The internal records show that financial institutions alerted Public Works to the problem in August last year. Some measures were taken in September and October, including a ban on taking credit card information over the telephone. Auction officials did not alert Public Works’ own special investigations directorate about the problem until Oct. 9. A secure online payment system was not implemented until Dec. 14, eight months later than initially planned, which required shutting down GCSurplus for five days.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1190410.html

[styky]

No globe-trotting for senators: NDP MP

By Althia Raj, Parliamentary Bureau

Last Updated: July 3, 2010
OTTAWA — Unelected senators should not be allowed to trot the globe at taxpayers' expense, says an NDP MP.

Winnipeg MP Pat Martin questions the extensive use of parliamentary travel and says the perk should be reserved for MPs only.

“All those senators don’t miss many opportunities… Some of the gadflies do nothing but circumnavigate the globe,” he said. “I really do wonder why we tolerate that.”

There are frequent opportunities for travel and while certain trips are worthwhile, many are of dubious value, Martin said, noting he visited New Zealand to study coalition governments and Scotland and Northern Ireland last year to study electoral reform.

“Often the exchanges between parliamentarians are a lot more frank and honest than the exchanges between governments,” he said. “I think there is merit and value with elected parliamentarians exchanging views.”

Liberal Sen. Joseph Day told QMI Agency MPs are the ones who should stay home and let elder statespersons do their work.

“Senators are much much better at parliamentary diplomacy. They bring much more worldly experience. They bring much more memory because most of them have been around longer and very few senators will sign up to go on a trip unless they believe it is something worthwhile that they can do for Canada,” he said, adding, “I can’t say that for the House of Commons.”

Eight of the top 13 travellers last year were members of the upper chamber.
http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/canada/ ... 78091.html

[styky]

Feds' limo riders drive us crazy

Last Updated: July 3, 2010
While it does not carry the plot of Driving Miss Daisy, just the thought of it drives us crazy.

Even days later.

In fact, it reminds us so much of former Liberal cabinet minister David Dingwall's historic comment when he was booted from his job as president of the Royal Canadian Mint -- "I'm entitled my entitlements" -- that it pushes our tachometer to the red line.

Pull over, Jeeves, we think we're going to be sick.

While we wish it were not true that so many Ottawa bureaucrats are being chauffeured around town by Daisy Werthan's equivalent of Hoke Colburn, and that they trundled off to work behind the wheel of their own Caddies, or on public transit as example-setters, the story is not hokum at all.

It just should be.

As our parliamentary bureau's Brian Lilley reported earlier this week, there are more taxpayer-funded limousines and chauffeurs in Ottawa than there are on Toronto's Bay St., where at least the livery bill is paid by stockholders, not the public.

Worst, many of these mandarins reading their daily Sun in the back seat of their limos -- hidden inside the Globe & Mail, no doubt -- occupy perk-piled positions most of us don't even know exist.

Comptroller General?

Do you think, for example, that James A. Ralston -- for that's apparently the comptroller general's name -- could score us a couple of centre-field comp tickets to the FIFA World Cup final in Jo'burg?

We asked, but apparently he can't.

Comp-troller obviously means something else.

A surprise among the guess-who list of chauffeurs gone wild is federal Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

Now there's a familiar name.

Isn't she the one who chases down and exposes the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars, so much so that she has politicians shaking in their Florsheim loafers and Manolo Blahnik pumps?

Thought so.

And, as Lilley opined, it is highly unlikely the Toronto Star sent a car and driver to pick up Graham Fraser when he covered Parliament Hill for the Liberal Party of Canada's default organ.

But, as Commissioner of Official Languages, Fraser gets a Hoke Colburn to chauffeur him around.

This, too, drives us crazy.

In both official languages.

http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/edit ... 85476.html

[styky]

Health boss Duckett collects $149,000 in benefits

Critics cry foul amid declining care in Alberta

By Jason Fekete, Calgary Herald July 9, 2010

Alberta Health Services CEO Stephen Duckett collected $744,000 in total compensation last fiscal year -- including $149,000 in bonuses and other benefits -- during a year some wait lists grew and the superboard ran an $885-million deficit.

The release Thursday of AHS's financial statements for the 2009-10 fiscal year reveals about a dozen vice-presidents and other senior executives also received annual compensation each in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Health organizations and opposition parties said the bonuses paid to Duckett and his senior brass are exorbitant for an organization that can't balance its books and hasn't seen improvement on certain wait times and surgery queues.

Duckett was paid $595,000 in base salary, as well as $139,000 in other cash benefits (including bonuses, overtime and vacation payouts), and $10,000 in non-cash benefits that included contributions to a pension plan.

The superboard CEO was eligible for a bonus of about 25 per cent of his salary -- or $143,750 in direct bonus pay (dubbed pay-at-risk because it's contingent upon meeting performance targets).

He eventually received $76,619, or 53 per cent of it, based on meeting about half of his set targets -- but fell well short on improving access to the system.

The final bonus amount is determined by the AHS board.

"There's still some work to do. By and large, his performance has been satisfactory," said Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky.

" The board felt this was fair and adequate compensation."

To receive the bonus, Duckett and AHS must reach certain targets, such as reducing the number of patients waiting for hospital beds in the community and reducing emergency waiting times.

On the health board's goals of improving access and wait times (which is weighted for 40 per cent of his bonus), he received only 3.3 per cent.

The superboard failed to open as many acute-care beds as originally planned and didn't hit its targets for reducing wait times in emergency departments and for hip replacement surgeries.

Duckett was awarded 20 out of a possible 30 per cent of his bonus for improving quality of care, including meeting targets for developing an incident report system and establishing health advisory councils.

And on the sustainability side (which is contingent upon hitting budget targets, among others), he received 30 out of 30.

"Albertans are rightly outraged at some of the bonuses that are handed out in spite of the chaos that now exists in our health-care system," said Liberal Leader David Swann, a medical doctor.

There's no reason to be forking out bonuses to health executives who are simply doing their job, and a poor one at that, Swann said.

More than a half-dozen other vice-presidents received bonuses, ranging between about $26,000 and $82,000, for reaching about 64 per cent to 71 per cent of their targets.

Seven other vice-presidents and senior officials received total compensation of $400,000 or more last year, including the VP of quality and service improvement snaring $812,000 in base salary, cash benefits and other non-cash benefits.

AHS board chairman Ken Hughes and other board members weren't available for comment.

Health-care professionals and opposition critics said myriad problems in the health system over the last year should have made it nearly impossible for executives to earn a bonus.

Beyond AHS failing to meet many of its own targets, the agency ran a $885-million deficit last year.

Wait lists for long-term care have grown compared with two years ago, according to recent data.

Furthermore, access to cancer doctors and facilities has been at crisis levels in Calgary and Edmonton.

"How you get a bonus out of that kind of performance is beyond me," said the NDP's Rachel Notley.

Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said many of her members would argue Duckett doesn't deserve much of a bonus -- if any.

Smith said the health board CEO has alienated nurses during his tenure and was responsible for many "covert layoffs" over the last year by not filling vacant positions.

Other notable findings from the AHS financial statements:

-Total costs to fight the H1N1 influenza outbreak were $58.7 million last fiscal year;

-AHS is named as a defendant in 379 legal claims totalling at least $1.3 billion.

Meanwhile, contracts for a previously announced cataract surgery blitz were unveiled by Zwozdesky on Thursday.

In May, the ministry said it would pump $2 million to fund 1,400 additional cataract surgeries.

Ophthalmologists said they were pleased by the announcement, which is expected to reduce a one-year wait-list for the procedure.

The contracts will enable additional clinics to perform the surgery. Five non-hospital facilities have been approved in Calgary.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainm ... z0tCx5pjXt

[styky]

Union boss rips food allowance for MLAs


By Cindy E. Harnett, Victoria Times Colonist July 16, 2010



VICTORIA — It's hypocritical that British Columbians are being told to tighten their belts while Victoria-area MLAs who live just minutes from the legislature justify $6,000 annual food bills at taxpayers' expense, B.C. Federation of Labour boss Jim Sinclair said Friday.

"There's a double standard whether it's a unionized worker, minimum-wage worker, whatever British Columbian it is, that we should tighten our belts while they don't," Sinclair said. "I think this is a symptom of a much bigger problem."

Greater Victoria MLAs working at the legislature or travelling on business are eligible to claim $61 per day to cover food costs. That's the same sum someone making minimum wage earns for a regular 7.5-hour work day.

"We oppose any wage increases, as a labour movement, to anybody, (whether) per diem, living allowances, wages, pensions, until they raise the minimum wage," Sinclair said.

Liberal cabinet minister Ida Chong spent $5,921 on taxpayer-paid meals last year, despite living in Saanich, about a 20-minute drive from her legislature office, and earning more than $150,000. Liberal cabinet minister Murray Coell claimed $1,321. Both had their meal expenses automatically disclosed last week in public accounts because they are cabinet ministers.

While a Greater Victoria MLA could claim more than $1,200 for meals a month, based on 20 working days, a single person on income assistance receives about half that amount, a total of $659, for the same month for all living expenses.

MLAs are not required to turn in receipts and most take the lump $61 sum, according to the comptroller's office.

" (The Liberals) see no contradiction in cutting back programs for the neediest people in the province and at the same time increasing per diems and wages and pensions, massively," Sinclair said.

But on Thursday in a rare show of cross-party support, NDP MLAs Rob Fleming, Maurine Karagianis and Jim Horgan defended how much they and their Liberal counterparts are billing taxpayers for meals.

However, the issue of MLA expenses, and Chong's bill in particular, appears to have struck a chord with the electorate.

In addition to dozens of online comments on the Times Colonist stories, callers to CFAX 1070 in Victoria lambasted Chong on air Friday morning, with one dubbing her "Ida Chow-down" for her taxpayer-funded meals. Columnists and radio hosts in Vancouver have lobbed equally fiery criticisms, with CKNW's Gordon MacDonald suggesting Chong eat humble pie, and pay for it.

The NDP says it can't disclose how much its MLAs billed taxpayers for food last year.

The party has been calling for the comptroller to make the figures transparent, but hasn't suggested lowering the amount given to MLAs.

"It's not new — this has been a system that's been in place for years and the amount was part of the independent review of MLA compensation that came down a few years ago," said NDP communications director Sara Goldvine.

If MLAs were to cut the per diems, it still wouldn't justify keeping the minimum wage low, Sinclair said. "It's not an either or case here — if the per diems are too high, fix them, but that's not a justification for not paying people (a fair wage) and not providing the services people need."

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Un ... z0tyDHshHX

[styky]

Scrap language bonuses: critic

By LAURA PAYTON, Parliamentary Bureau
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2 ... 59206.html
Last Updated: July 19, 2010 5:31pm

OTTAWA - Bilingualism bonuses for public servants cost taxpayers $72 million a year, newly released government memos show.

More than 90,000 people qualified for the $800 a year bonus last year.

Two-thirds of people getting it work in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

The size of the bonus hasn't changed since it was created in 1972, but more people get it now than ever before.

The head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says the bonus rewards people for having a skill they're supposed to have.

“It's like paying an engineer a bonus for having an engineering degree,” Gaudet said, adding getting rid of the bonus would be one way to start whittling down the government's deficit.

A spokeswoman for the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents 172,000 bureaucrats, says the bonus is a token acknowledgement of civil servants' abilities that works out to about $30 per paycheque. She says it's still not easy to learn a second language.

“I think it's money well-spent for the employer to be able to provide those services to people,” said Patty Ducharme.

“The question is do we want to be a bilingual country or not? That's what this is really about.”