Friday October 30, 2009
Toronto tax-payers are picking up the tab for two of Exhibition Place's board members. In the past three years only Rocco Maragna and Joe Pantalone have filed any expense claims, yet these two seem to have a penchant for lavishness. $4300 combined for a trip to New York, $3000 for a spuriously justified 'amusement park conference' in Orlando, various multiple thousand dollar trips to Italy, as well as numerous lunch and dinner bills are only a few of the questionable expense claims. Ouch!
Thursday October 29, 2009
The federal government released salary information for the highest earning public employees recently. More than 400 salaries exceeded the $200,000/year level, and more than half of these positions are political appointments. Many of these political appointees are also eligible for bonuses up to 39%. Ouch!
Tuesday October 27, 2009
Ontario's Liberal government has come under fire recently for its excessive spending and inability to manage the spiraling provincial debt. According to the Minister of Finance 'no plans' currently exist to reduce the debt; however, the government has no difficulty spending more money. The Liberals' provincial early learning advisor, Chris Pascal, had recommended a certain restructuring of Ontario's early education system. Not content to heed the warnings of economists or even to follow their own advisor's advice, today Dalton McGuinty announced an additional $500 million per year for the program. Ouch!
Friday October 23, 2009
Ontario's Finance Minister claimed that Ontario is pursuing a path of fiscal responsibility and restraint. This, however, comes on the heels of the announcement of a $24.7 billion deficit. Furthermore, Ontario is spending $4.8 billion more this year than it predicted just seven months ago. It is difficult to imagine where the Minister of Finance has found his optimism. Ouch!
Thursday October 22, 2009
Dalton McGuinty's Liberals are accused of hiding a scandal behind a scandal. Cancer Care Ontario shows similar financial improprieties as the much-maligned eHealth Ontario. Thus far, approximately $75 million of expense claims and consulting fees have come under scrutiny by auditors. Furthermore only 6% of expense claims filed included receipts or documentation. Deb Mathews, the newly appointed Minister of Health, has refused requests by both opposition parties to have the auditor general probe this issue. Ouch!
Tuesday October 20, 2009
After campaigning under a platform promising fiscal prudence, Gordon Campbell's BC Liberals have effectively doubled the province's debt in just a few short years. The previous NDP government drove the province's debt to a high-water mark of $34 billion. After arguing that the NDP had doomed generations to come, Campbell has increased the total debt to nearly $60 billion. Now, in an attempt to open new revenue streams, the BC Liberals have pursued increased taxes through tax harmonization - all at the expense of the tax-payer. Ouch!
Monday October 19, 2009
Like Ontario, the federal government has pursued the development of online medical records, planning to have the system available by 2010. Canada Health Infoway Inc., the agency responsible for the transition, is also facing massive cost-overruns and missed deadlines. This program has been overseen and administered by successive Liberal and Conservative governments, however neither government has effectively done so. Auditor General Sheila Fraser has estimated the overall costs thus far to have surpassed $2 billion with less than 17% of the task completed. Ouch!
Friday October 16, 2009
In response to poor results in a bilingualism study, the Department of National Defence will send officers to attend French language courses. This is certainly a necessary undertaking in a bilingual society, however the contract for this language training has been offered to a Colorado based company. At a cost of $285,000 for one year with an option to extend the contract a further two years, taxpayers are essentially paying Americans to teach us one of our own official languages. Ouch!
Thursday October, 15 2009
Despite increased focus on government spending and waste, federal government purchases of bottled water have risen by 70% since 2003. According to recently released statistics, the federal government has spent at least $5 million over the past five years on bottled water for ministries and departments already served with safe public drinking water. In fact, Environment Canada is among the highest spending departments, having spent more than $628,000 since 2003. Ouch!
Wednesday, October 14 2009
In response to several examples of controversial conduct by RCMP officers, the force is planning to send three executives to attend "personal transformation" and "accountability" training. At a total cost of $220, 000 the per-person cost for the program exceeds the yearly salary of an RCMP officer. Accommodation and travel expenses will be extra. Ouch!
Tuesday, October 13 2009
Canada has agreed to pay the travel costs for the upcoming visit of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Unfortunately for Canadian tax-payers, Charles' travel expenses have been on the rise over the past year with spending up nearly 24%. The costs for his recent trips to the Far East and to South America surpassed $2 Million. Unsurprisingly, British taxpayers are grateful that Canada is picking up the tab for the Royal travel. Ouch!
Thursday, October 8 2009
eHealth- Through mismanagement and a near complete lack of oversight, the agency charged with implementing Ontario�s electronic health record system has seen its costs balloon by nearly $1,000,000,000.00 ($1 Billion) Despite this, embattled ex-CEO Sarah Kramer collected a severance of $317,000 with less than one year on the job. Ouch!
