The Waste Watch - Government waste federal and provincial

[styky]

Canadians pouring billions into PS severance
Global News/The West Block : Sunday, December 11, 2011 12:10 PM
OTTAWA – The Conservative government is paying out billions of dollars in order to stop paying severance to public serrvants who willingly leave their jobs -- and it's the Canadian taxpayer who's on the hook.

So far, Ottawa has earmarked more than $1.3 billion to pay out members of one union who are, for the most part, returning to work at the same job, in the same office, with the same responsibilities.

Read it on Global News: Global News | Canadians pouring billions into PS severance
http://www.globalnews.ca/pages/story.aspx?id=6442539920

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High-flying bureaucrats travel on taxpayer dime


By Kris Sims ,Parliamentary Bureau

First posted: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 05:47 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 05:57 PM EST
OTTAWA - Federal bureaucrats who impress their bosses are granted international trips so they can learn how to be better civil servants -- and at least one citizens' group says this "low-hanging fruit" should get cut in the next budget.

The Canada School of Public Service is a taxpayer-funded academy that trains workers, at a cost of $105 million last year. The school offers "Advanced Leadership Program" tours that send top bureaucrats to destinations including Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and Sweden.

"This is low-hanging fruit for budget cuts when they consider the strategic review for the spring budget," said Stephen Taylor, director of the National Citizens Coalition. Taylor, who discovered the spending, says when Prime Minister Stephen Harper was first elected to Parliament Hill as a Reform Party MP, he would have opposed such a program.

"Stephen Harper would have been disgusted by these expenses," Taylor said.

"Many Canadians will be shocked to hear that senior public servants are travelling around the world, each one costing us more money than the mean Canadian income."

The Public Service Alliance of Canada wants to know if the top-tier travel program is subject to the same strategic review as all other departments this budget season.

"We have members who are getting pink slips, so I want to know if this 'Leadership Program' is subject to cuts too, and if not, why not?" said PSAC spokesman Larry Rousseau.

One of the participants in the leadership program was Marie Lemay, the CEO of the National Capital Commission. The department specializes in maintaining the Rideau Canal, bike paths and parks at a cost of $107 million in tax dollars last year.

The leadership program spent $21,745.86 in January and February for Lemay's travels to Calgary, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro. Another expense report shows $23,826.87 was spent sending her to Brussels, Oslo, Frankfurt, Chennai and New Delhi.

The Canada School of Public Service and the National Capital Commission did not return calls for comment.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/03/hi ... payer-dime

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Federal review of building maintenance contracts uncovers overcharging, errors

By: The Canadian Press

Posted: 01/5/2012 3:54 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

OTTAWA - The latest review of federal building-maintenance contracts worth almost $6 billion has uncovered overcharging, sloppy documentation and record-keeping errors.

The forensic audit of a sample of transactions under the contracts has triggered reimbursement of tens of thousands of dollars and prompted a more in-depth examination of some expenditures.

The findings represent the latest development in the scrutiny of repair and maintenance contracts with SNC-Lavalin O&M Inc. totalling $5.9 billion for upkeep of 320 federal buildings across the country.

Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose ordered the forensic audit after an initial review turned up a problem transaction.

In the latest audit, consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers looked at 70 randomly selected expenditures between April 2005 and late March 2010.

In a review of billing, the auditors found SNC 0&M overcharged Public Works in 38 instances totalling $44,244.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 67548.html

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Bureaucrats’ $10,000 trips ‘too expensive’: NDP

Barry O'Regan
, Vancouver Social Policy Examiner
January 4, 2012 -
The National post story on senior bureaucrats taking fact finding trips to other countries is somewhat disturbing, especially when it’s been revealed senior government mandarins are being treated to an all expense taxpayer funded sojourn to the far reaches of the globe to study the work habits of their counterparts.

In the word of one critic, a national taxpayers’ advocacy group director Stephen Taylor with the National Citizens Coalition stated:

“I don’t know why a Canadian bureaucrat needs to go to Mexico to find out how they do administration,” he said.

“In 2009, the program had several participants visiting 35 countries, including India, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, according to Mr. Taylor’s post.”

Stephen Taylor

The Canada School of Public Service running the program provides Advanced Leadership Programs for senior mandarins. This program, touted to provide insight for government mandarins will allow them to witness and learn from their counterparts, and see their hosts world with a different set of eyes. This information, once disseminated, is used to develop the senior mandarin’s knowledge of other government processes around the world

Though in rare instances there may be validity in sending a few senior mandarins to other areas of the world to get a better understanding , but would not the host country be on their best behaviour? Besides bureaucrats being bureaucrats will only let you see what they want you to see, thus giving a false impression? One only has to read a newspaper to see the folly in all this.

What positive outcome would a Canadian civil servant learn from anyone working for the Mexican, Saudi or Indian government or any foreign government for that matter?

Would not all this information be readily available in an instant with our Foreign Affairs department, media or the 200,000 thousand refugees and immigrants who flee to Canada annually? Certainly these sources of information would be more accurate than any foreign bureaucrat under the gun to please.

Notwithstanding it is well documented that the economic market conditions in these countries economies is certainly well known looking at their stock market, civil unrest and other determining factors, European countries included!

Since these economies and civil unrest and lack of democratic process in many of these countries are pretty much in the toilet, what benefit would it serve us to learn anything positive from these countries?

While Canada may not be a perfect utopia according to some Canadians, we are free to whine and criticize openly to our governments, after all we vote governments in and out of power, and speak our mind as a free nation, that is our right!

Perhaps Canadians all, should appreciate what we have, our rights and freedoms, lifestyle choices and equality that everyone is equal, as the majority of citizens in other countries are fighting and dying for what we currently take for granted. Canadians always seem unsatisfied for one reason or another, with our endless requests for more and more self entitlements. Entitlements we are unwilling to pay for, preferring the next Canadian front those costs on their behalf, including your government.

While the aforementioned statement is valid, should not other countries see how good we have it, though many of us take for granted?

After all it is said the Advanced Leadership Program prepares senior mandarins to effectively lead the public service into the future, one wonders why the Canadian master needs lessons from the ill prepared foreign students?

Would it not make sense for these countries to send their government mandarins to Canada, after all Canada is in a lot better financial shape economically, thanks in part to Prime Minister Harper and the Conservative Government, who should seriously rethink this current Leadership Program policy.
http://www.examiner.com/social-policy-i ... ensive-ndp

[styky]

99 stupid things the government spent your money on

Snowmobile clubs, an archery centre and a non-existent bridge
by Jason Kirby with Richard Warnica, Gustavo Vieira, Chris Sorensen, Alex Ballingall, Martin Patriquin and Ken Macqueen on Thursday, January 5, 2012 11:10am
Canada’s finances may be the envy of the world, but the bar is awfully low these days. Whether it’s Ottawa, the provinces or municipalities, governments across the country face horrendous deficits. We must tighten our belts, say the politicians. Austerity and cutbacks are the order of the day.

Only, you wouldn’t know it looking at this list. What follows is but a slice of the silly, wasteful, craven and often outright stupid ways governments at all levels spent taxpayers’ money over the last year. To find our 99 items, Maclean’s scoured press releases and auditor generals’ reports, contacted watchdog groups like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and waded through news reports, looking for examples where the money was either spent or announced in 2011. We also included a handful of egregious instances of waste that only came to light in the past 12 months, even if the actual cash was doled out in previous years.

Not everyone will agree with all these items being on the list. Some will justify handouts to companies and sports teams as necessary to “promote economic activity,” or they’ll say a camping program for new immigrants was a nice thing to do. Sure, it would be great if we could afford everything, but at a time when government spending is under the knife, when services and jobs are being cut, it’s clear many of those with their hands on the public purse have yet to come to terms with Canada’s new fiscal reality.

Here is a sample of questionable spending on subsidies and infrastructure . Check us out tomorrow to see more stupid things your government did with your money .

BIG MONEY PLAYERS — He shoots, he scores another subsidy

1 Bailouts on ice: Abbotsford, B.C., dished out $1.3 million to the owners of the Abbotsford Heat AHL hockey team as part of a 10-year agreement guaranteeing the money-losing team that it won’t actually suffer any financial losses. The problem is that nobody buys tickets. They might as well. One way or the other the people of Abbotsford are going to pay.

2 Snow job: In 2011 the federal government unleashed a blizzard of funds on Quebec snowmobile clubs—nine groups received a windfall of at least $1.5 million. Over the past three years Stephen Harper’s government has pumped $6 million into Quebec snowmobile clubs. Not to be outdone, the province of Ontario set aside $500,000 for loop trails of its own.

3 Putt putt: Residents of London, Ont., who don’t golf are still picking up more than a few rounds for those who do. Since 2007, two of the city’s three taxpayer-owned courses lost more than $620,000 amid a glut of public and private courses in the region.

4 Broken arrow: What do you do with an unused curling rink in a Prairie community of 250, namely, Viscount, Sask.? If you’re the stimulus-happy federal government, you offer up $9,000 to convert it into an “upgraded, energy efficient” archery centre.

5 Sand trap: The City of Windsor spent $1 million to rebuild sand traps at the Roseland Golf and Curling Club, which the city owns.

6 Offside: Vancouver taxpayers paid more than $2 million for the Canucks’ Stanley Cup run and riot. Last we checked, the Canucks were a wildly profitable private company (playoff ticket sales earned the team $44 million) that doesn’t need taxpayers to subsidize a party for its fans.

7 Ottawa put $5 million toward marketing and celebrating the 2012 Grey Cup in Toronto.

8 B.C. paid $550,000 for a Grey Cup party in Vancouver.

9 Hydro Ottawa paid $28,450 for Senators hockey tickets while trying to raise rates to cover increasing “business costs.”

10 Auditors in Winnipeg found six semi-private golf clubs pay just $1 a year to lease public land, even as city-owned courses racked up $8 million in debt.

11 The City of Ottawa spent $21,000 on a five-minute video on how to use bike lanes.
PAVED WITH GOLD — Cashing in on the infrastructure boom

12 A bridge elsewhere: New Brunswick taxpayers must cough up $4 million to fix a bridge 3,600 km away. The province guaranteed $70 million worth of loans for Miramichi-based Atcon Group, the general contractor for the $182-million Deh Cho Bridge project in the Northwest Territories. Then Atcon was removed from the project and went into receivership. An audit said the province must repair work done by Atcon.

13 Gearing down: P.E.I. spent $330,000 building a parking lot for trucks for times when the Confederation Bridge is closed due to stormy weather, but it never gets used because it’s in the middle of nowhere. During a windstorm in October when the bridge was closed for 36 hours, only three trucks used the lot. The rest parked on the road.

14 The watchers: Infrastructure in Quebec is so shabby that the government paid $170,000 per month for guards to keep heavy trucks off Montreal’s Mercier Bridge 24 hours a day.

15 A bridge too far: Ottawa is spending $1.16 million to design a pedestrian bridge over a busy highway, even though no decision has been made on whether the bridge is actually needed. (It depends on future plans for a nearby stadium.) The province is widening the highway and wants to know the proposed bridge’s dimensions, in case it ever gets built.

16 Quebec paid $1.2 million to send transport officials overseas to study the latest in engineering technology, including trips to Burkina Faso and Algeria.

17 In its rush to qualify for federal stimulus dollars, the City of Ottawa spent $1.8 million to buy land it would have eventually gotten for free under a “right-of-way” arrangement with the landowner.

18 The feds forked out $268,000 for a footbridge in Forestville, Que.

http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/01/06/99-s ... oney-on-2/

[styky]

Oh, Canada: Government’s wasteful grants listed
Commentary: Questionable infrastructure investments prominent
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oh-can ... _news_stmp

[styky]

Time for Toronto arts groups to show they care

By Sue-Ann Levy ,Toronto Sun

First posted: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 07:53 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 08:41 PM EST
TORONTO - So much for starving artists.

It seems not even their perennial difficulties attracting patrons, or their constant quest for cash, have stopped the executives of some of Toronto’s top arts organizations from generously helping themselves to six-figure salaries.

According to information obtained by the Toronto Sun, six of the major cultural organizations that have been handed grants from City Hall for years are paying more than 70 staff yearly salaries of $80,000 or more.

The Art Gallery of Ontario – which got a $540,000 city grant last year – tops the list with a whopping 25 staffers making more than $100,000 in 2010.

CEO Matthew Teitelbaum raked in a $281,008 salary and $31,854 in taxable benefits in 2010 while a long list of staff with the titles of Exective Director, Associate Director, Deputy Director and just plain Director were part of the $100,000-plus club.

At the Canadian Opera Company, which got a $1.31-million city grant last year, 10 staff make more than $80,000 a year.

Another 10 staffers of the National Ballet make more than $80,000, two of them more than $200,000. The National Ballet got a $1.14-million grant last year and the school associated with it another $137,332.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, funded to the tune of $1.13-million from the city’s grants pot, has eight staff making more than $80,000. The city also agreed to give the TSO a loan guarantee on a $3-million line of credit during David Miller’s second term in office.

The Toronto International Film Festival Group -- given a $800,000 city grant last year-- also has 10 employees making $80,000 or more.

Save for TIFF, my efforts to reach spokespeople for each of these organizations were not successful Wednesday.

TIFF spokesman Jennifer Bell e-mailed me to say they “aren’t commenting” on the city’s budget process at this time.

Nonetheless, these are the same organizations, which along with the Toronto Arts Council (TAC), are strong-arming councillors not to cut 10% from their grants budgets, as proposed in the 2012 $9.3-billion operating budget which goes before executive committee Thursday and council next week.

That cut, if approved, will shave $2-million in total from the more than $15-million the city allocates to these major cultural organizations and to the Toronto Arts Council (TAC) – which provides grants to a long list of music, dance, theatre and visual arts groups.

Toronto’s arts industry had the ear of Miller and his NDP sidekick Kyle Rae, who not only increased their patronage substantially over the years but regularly handed them an extra top-up whenever they had a few crumbs left in the city’s yearly surplus.

This year, arts industry officials – many of whom appear to consider themselves answerable to no one – are being treated like every organization, agency, staffer, department being funded by the taxpayer.

They are clearly miffed about being lumped in with everyone else.

In fact Tuesday, the TAC released the latest study showing that Toronto, at $19, is behind every other major Canadian city in terms of per capita investment in culture.

The release reminds council of its commitment to raise Toronto’s arts funding to $25 per capita.

Susan Wright, operations manager for the TAC, said the $2-million budget cut to all arts grants, including those given to the major cultural organizations, will take the city’s per capita investment down to $18.

When I asked her about the generous salaries paid to some of the organization’s senior staff, Wright laughed at first, saying it has nothing to do with the TAC.

“I would expect the marketplace dictates salaries the same as anywhere else,” she said, adding that she’s sure I make more than $100,000 a year.

Her contentions about my salary are actually untrue. However, that notwithstanding, I work for a private sector company which does not subsist largely on government grants.

Instead of whining about the proposed 10% cut to their grants, I’d like to see these generously paid arts execs take a 10% salary cut to show they really care about the arts in the same way they expect the mayor and council to care.

Now wouldn’t that be an artful move.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/11/ti ... -they-care

[styky]

Questionable grants leave questions lingering for auditor
Brian Lilley - January 14th, 2012
Trillium grants puzzling to A-G

by Christina Blizzard

TORONTO - One small section of Auditor-General Jim McCarter’s report last month received surprisingly little coverage.

Lost amid the insurance boondoggles, weird LCBO purchasing practices and a scathing indictment of green energy projects, was a searing report on Trillium Foundation grants.

Established in 1982, Trillium provides grants to community groups across the province.

In the 2010/11 fiscal year, Trillium distributed about 1,500 grants worth $110 million.

McCarter looked at how these grants were doled out and monitored – and found the system severely lacking.

Troll through the grants on Trillium’s website, and you’re left scratching your head as to how taxpayers ended up supporting some of the organizations.

In 2004/05, for example, a private yacht club in Toronto got $100,000 to buy, “sailing dinghies and a safety boat to enhance introductory and beginner sailing programs for children and youth.”

Why are taxpayers funding this?

If a private sailing club wants to offer such programs, surely its members should buy the equipment.

In 2004, Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) a group that’s trying to develop “bird friendly” buildings by getting folk to turn out their lights, received $175,000 over five years.

Then in 2011, they got another $82,000.

According to the Trillium website the money is, “to hire a volunteer and outreach coordinator who will increase public engagement, create new volunteer opportunities …”

Okay, but surely a volunteer is just that – a volunteer. In any other organization, a volunteer works for free and doesn’t get paid $82,000.

Never mind.

I’m sure the birds are happy.

Never one to let a government slush fund go untapped, in 2009 the David Suzuki Foundation scored $129,200 over two years, “to develop a financing model to stimulate the green economy and energy retrofits by researching and pilot-testing Local Improvement Charges (LICs) in three to five Ontario municipalities.”

Mmmm. I feel greener already.

The auditor was scathing in his criticism of the way the grants were handled.

More than half the organizations his auditors visited didn’t have sufficient receipts available to support the amounts they said they’d spent.

“In almost all cases, the organizations could not provide evidence of the hours worked or what actual work was undertaken by people in the funded positions,” said his report.

A grant of $73,000 was provided to an organization for air quality tests, including $31,600 for salaries and $23,000 for equipment.

“We found little evidence of any work done – except a recording of eight hours of visits to two schools over the course of a year,” the report said.

A non-profit housing corporation received $48,000 to help integrate youth from its community into the wider population.

The grant predominantly supported a range of recreational activities, “including makeup lessons and outings involving skiing, laser tag and mini golf.”

A soup kitchen got $26,000 for landscaping and $12,000 for steam cleaning equipment. Auditors found only $2,600 spent on landscaping and the steam cleaning equipment was nowhere to be found. Unapproved renovations were done instead.

I’m sure some very worthwhile organizations get funding for laudable purposes.

But thousands of small community groups out there do just as good work – and fundraise privately for it.

This year is crunch time for the budget.

Economist Don Drummond — hired by the government to find savings in programs — has warned some ministries will see 30% cuts to funding.

I think he could take his knife to Trillium first.

Some of those grants are for the birds.

http://blogs.canoe.ca/lilleyspad/contri ... r-auditor/

[styky]

EI financing agency spends millions doing nothing
By Greg Weston, National Affairs Specialist CBC News
Posted: Jan 19, 2012 5:01 AM ET
Last Updated: Jan 19, 2012 9:52 AM ET
A federal agency created by the Harper government with great political fanfare in 2008 is costing millions of dollars to achieve pretty much nothing.

The Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board has just about everything a budding government agency could want.

So far, it has spent over $3.3 million for new offices, computers and furniture, well-paid executives and staff, travel budgets, expense accounts, board meetings, and lots of pricey consultants.

All that's missing is a reason for it to exist at all.
Chairman David Brown: 'We haven't had to do nearly as much as our original mandate intended.'

The Conservative government set up the agency ostensibly to perform three main functions.

The first was to set the annual employment insurance contribution rates that determine how much Canadian workers and employers have to pay into the EI fund in a given year.....................http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2 ... on-ei.html

[styky]

Tough times call for stress balls; Defence Dept. orders 20,000 squeezable toys

By: Steve Rennie, The Canadian Press

Posted: 01/20/2012 12:37 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

OTTAWA - These are stressful times at National Defence.

Belt-tightening. Uncertainty. Maybe even pink slips.

Throw in a Cold War-style spy saga, and it's enough to push even the most unflappable worker to the breaking point.

So what does top brass do to keep its staff sane?

Order 20,000 stress balls. Orange ones.

The department needs the squeezable rubber stress-relievers on the double. The deadline for the order is the end of March — just in time for the start of the new fiscal year.

The next Conservative budget is expected to cut deep. Departments and agencies have been ordered to trim their budgets by five to 10 per cent in the hope of saving the government $4 billion annually by 2014.

It's enough to make any bureaucrat sweat.

A notice posted on a website that advertises government contracts doesn't say why National Defence needs so many stress balls, or why they have to be orange. It only says the balls are a "promotional item."

The contract will go to the lowest bidder from a list of pre-qualified companies.

The department didn't immediately answer questions about the order.

The small rubber balls are popular giveaways at trade shows. They're also an essential part of any cubicle inhabited by a repetitive-stress-injury-fearing office worker.

It wouldn't be the first time the department has passed out the malleable toys to its staff.

In October 2010, on International Conflict Resolution Day, soldiers at 8 Wing Trenton were encouraged to stop by a kiosk on the base to "pick up a stress ball, and partake of the cake that will commemorate this auspicious day," according to a military newsletter.

This week has certainly been a stressful one over at National Defence.

One of its naval officers is accused of passing secrets.

Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Delisle is now in custody after being charged with communicating information to a "foreign entity."

The government has so far refused to confirm or deny reports that the foreign power Delisle is accused of sharing information with could be Russia.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... 71828.html

[styky]

You would think that if there was anyone not in need of balls it would be the military

[styky]

Whoopsies apparently McKay thinks the milatary all ready has enough balls....

MacKay axes tender for 20,000 stress balls
Postmedia News January 20, 2012 5:08 PM
OTTAWA — As quickly as a federal government tender for thousands of stress balls surfaced Friday, Defence Minister Peter MacKay ordered a stop to the process.

A tender call was issued that wanted 20,000 stress balls delivered as "promotional items" for the Department of National Defence. The balls, which had to be orange, were to be delivered by the end of March.

Friday evening, however, a spokesman for MacKay said the process was essentially stopped in its tracks, as it was not "judicious use" of public funds.

"As soon as Minister MacKay was made aware of this contract, he instructed officials to immediately cancel this unnecessary expense of taxpayer money," Jay Paxton wrote in an email.

Read more: http://www.canada.com/news/MacKay+axes+ ... z1k3qPRF91

[styky]

Austerity rules, but not all the time
Exceptions include MacKay ’copter ride

By: Mia Rabson

Posted: 01/23/2012 8:14 AM | Comments: 8 (including replies)

OTTAWA — Federal civil servants are walking around holding their breath these days, not knowing when their department is going to fall prey to the cost-cutting axe. In Ottawa, where one in five employees works for the federal government, the economy is already feeling the pinch with slower retail sales over Christmas and a cooling housing market.

But Finance Minister Jim Flaherty needs to find $4 billion in savings within four years, and estimates suggest anywhere from 9,000 to 40,000 civil servants could be chopped to help Flaherty get there.

More than 5,000 have been eliminated already at more than a dozen departments and agencies, including Environment Canada, Public Works, and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. Ironically, the 600 jobs cut at HRSDC are people who process employment insurance claims. There is now quite a backlog for such claims and the recently unemployed face lengthy delays to get their first cheques.

The government is in a deficit situation and the civil service under this government has grown exponentially. There are quite likely numerous places to cut back. It’s also true that some of the jobs being eliminated are vacant, and some of the people getting pink slips are transferring to other departments.

But not all of them.

When people are losing their jobs, it makes any story of government overindulgence a little harder to swallow. Stories like Defence Minister Peter MacKay ordering a military helicopter to bring him back from vacation in Newfoundland.

Wouldn’t we all love a private ride back from a holiday?

Last week, the stories about bad spending decisions seemed to be everywhere.

First, there was the $375,000 renovation to a suite of offices for a deputy minister and eight staff at defence headquarters in Ottawa. It is a somewhat outrageous price tag for nine people.

It was made worse when internal documents released through access to information showed the deputy minister approved the renovations three weeks after defence staff were warned 2,100 civilian jobs were going to be cut to save money.

Then there was the story about the furniture recycling snafu at Environment Canada — the same department that has already laid off more than 300 scientists, researchers and other staff and will lay off another 400 in the next three years.

You see, a $60-million renovation of the department’s office tower in Gatineau, Que., required that office furniture be removed.

The department decided it was going to be more expensive to recycle that furniture than to buy new stuff.

How did it decide that? Documents released through an access-to-information request reported it was a "big guess." They didn’t actually know. And they didn’t bother to find out.

But after the decision was made, a letter from a furniture manufacturer showed 800 desks could have been recycled for $500,000 less.

To make things worse, it cost $140,000 to store the old furniture for a year.

In a belated bid to nip suspect spending in the bud, the government on Friday nixed an order for something civil servants actually might have found useful. The Department of National Defence had put out a call for 20,000 orange stress balls — until MacKay got wind of it.

Finally, there was a 65-page report from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation that said for every dollar MPs contribute to their pension plan, Canadians contribute $23. Yes, you read that correctly: Taxpayers $23. MPs $1.

It’s hard to argue that MPs don’t work hard and don’t give up a lot to serve the public — constant travel, being away from their families, 12-to-15hour days with few days off and little sense of job security. Having a decent pension seems reasonable.

But $23 to $1 is a little bit closer to indecent — particularly when so many civil servants are losing their jobs so Ottawa can save money.

There was some sense the government might be ready to cut back on the pensions as the CTF report emerged this week, but there have been calls for years to scale back the MP pension plan, so skepticism abounds that it will happen.

The public is often very skeptical that the government has any intention to use tax dollars wisely. It’s hard to convince people otherwise when such blatant examples of bad decision-making pop up so often.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/ ... 83668.html

[styky]

DND being ripped off by contractors, union alleges

Shoddy construction, overbilling rife, report to House committee states

By David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen February 5, 2012

Taxpayers are on the hook for shoddy construction work at Defence Department buildings and are being overcharged by private contractors providing services at military installations across the country, a new report to be presented Tuesday to a Commons committee alleges.

Photos taken for the report show crumbling foundations and sloping floors on new buildings, while invoices raise questions about whether Defence Construction Canada, a Crown Corporation that oversees construction work for DND, is being overcharged by contractors.

The report will be presented to the House of Commons defence committee on Tuesday by the Union of National Defence Employees, which represents DND construction engineering staff.

The report includes invoices, engineering reports and photographs to build its case.

One photo shows a pipe at the pool complex at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa attached to the ceiling by a rope. Another shows a heating system in a building at the same base, disabled because of mistakes caused by a company hired by DCC.

“We uncovered just a fraction of what we think is going on at all DND sites across the country,” said John MacLennan, the union’s national president. “We don’t know how much it is costing taxpayers but we’re asking for an audit to be done.”

MacLennan said the union repeatedly warned senior department officials about the ongoing problems but nothing was done. Instead, the department’s union workers have been repeatedly called in to fix the problems caused by private contractors, he added.

Some of the issues outlined in the report include:

Unusual billing practices such as a March 1, 2010 invoice in which a contractor charged DCC $22,455.30 to demolish an old floor and provide waterproofing and tiling services for a building at the military installation at Dundurn, Sask. That invoice included 336 hours of work at $46 an hour.

But DND staff at the site informed DCC the contractor never performed that amount of work.

On March 5, the firm submitted a new invoice to DCC revising the number of hours worked down to 182. But in that invoice the company instead charged $65 an hour. The price tag on the new invoice, however, was exactly the same as the first: $22,455.30.

Union staff challenged that again but DCC declined to discuss the situation further and refused to seek any further clarification from the contractor, said MacLennan.

In another invoice, the same contractor charged DCC in June 2009 more than $2,800 for small tools and more than $5,000 to rent a scissor lift, a mechanical device that acts as an elevated work platform. The rental of the two lifts was for a six-day period.

But the union’s report also includes an invoice from months before when DND staff at the same site rented the same scissor lift from the same supplier for two weeks for just $1,170. The union also questions why taxpayers would be charged by the contractor for basic tools, as it is common practice for a company to come equipped to do a job.

At Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, New Brunswick, a contractor mistakenly installed bolts in the wrong location on a building’s foundation, according to the report. Instead of correcting the situation, the bolts were sheared off and the walls of the garage just sat unsecured on the foundation.

At Canadian Forces Base Comox, B.C., the union obtained engineering reports showing that a contractor incorrectly installed temperature sensors and pressure gauges in a new building.

In other cases, a new floor installed in a kitchen at a military site was so sloped it was beyond use; vertical siding was improperly installed on another structure, leaving a large gap that allowed water and snow to come into the building. Other photos taken by union staff of work by DCC contractors show crumbling concrete foundations.

In other cases, the government was going to be overcharged for services by DCC-hired contractors, according to the union. At a DND building at St. Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., a contractor wanted to charge $16,000 to install a sump pump. DND’s construction engineering staff objected to that, saying the price was too high. According to the union, they did the work for less than $7,000, which included all labour and materials.

The report also notes that an ammunition building at the Dundurn site had to be temporarily closed down after a private contractor mistakenly cut through the structure’s electrical grounding wire. DCC staff knew of the situation but did not understand the danger of the ungrounded structure, according to the union.

“Once discovered by CE (construction engineering) staff, the building was evacuated until the grounding wire could be repaired,” the report notes. “CE staff had to do corrective work at additional expense to the government.”

DCC staff lack the experience to understand that work is not being performed to specifications or building codes, according to the report.

But the president of DCC says his staff are not only highly competent but the Crown Corporation has the right procedures in place to ensure that value for money is obtained in all the contracts it handles. James Paul said contractors aren’t paid until their work is inspected and it is determined that it meets the contract requirements.

Last year, DCC completed 2,500 projects. In that time, it awarded more than $800 million in new contracts. Much of the work is for construction.

Paul said DCC could find no record of a contractor hired by the corporation cutting a grounding cable at the Dundurn facility. He noted, however, the incident could have been from a contractor working under a contract from Public Works and Government Services.

As for the allegations by the union about unusual billing procedures, Paul questioned whether that information was valid.

“We pay very close attention to the billing and, in addition, there are very strict internal audits and DND audits of all of the payments,” Paul said. “I am not aware of, nor would we accept, charges that are not for proper services delivered in accordance with the agreement.”

Contractor invoices are vetted closely enough that Paul said he didn’t think such abuses of the system would go undetected.

Defence Construction Canada was established in 1951 to help the Defence Department in contracting for major real property projects.

But the union says it has expanded beyond its mandate and DND is now giving jobs to DCC that were once done by the department’s construction engineering staff. “They’ve created a shadow public service, while we face a hiring freeze or layoffs,” MacLellan said.

DND did not comment on the union’s concerns about the creation of a shadow public service. DCC has doubled the size of its workforce over the past five years. It now has around 1,000 employees.

Paul acknowledged that DCC is taking on more activities than before but said those still fall within its original mandate. He noted that the government sees DCC as the most effective way to deliver services.

The Defence Department expects to cut several thousand public service jobs in the coming years and the union is concerned that the department is creating the situation to justify even further cuts.

MacLennan also said DCC is turning into a “landing spot” for Canadian Forces personnel, who in their military jobs had the responsibility for determining the amount of work the Crown Corporation received.

MacLennan said this is not against public service employment rules.

But the report also noted, “one needs to question the conflict of interest situation that is arising and whether all decisions made to increase the work load of DCC is in the best interests of the Crown.”

The union noted that it has found at least eight former Canadian Forces employees responsible for providing DCC work, now working for the corporation.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology ... z1lbpcglvK

[styky]

Harper's senior bureaucrats rack up hefty airfares during government restraint

By: Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press

02/12/2012 5:01 AM

OTTAWA - Stephen Harper's senior bureaucrats have been racking up some hefty airfares at a time of government restraint and controversy over travel.

Travel expenses recently posted for the final quarter of 2011 show executives at the Privy Council Office, the prime minister's own department, paid costly fares last year on some of the most competitive routes to Europe and elsewhere.

Return airfare to Great Britain cost taxpayers $6,855 for Rennie Marcoux, assistant secretary to cabinet, to attend a week-long "cyber" conference in London last October.

The clerk of the Privy Council, Wayne Wouters, paid almost as much for a round-trip flight to London — $6,625 — for a public-service summit in November.

William Pentney, deputy secretary to cabinet, spent $3,566 on airfare to attend another international summit in London last June.

Paris, another popular European destination with plenty of airline competition, was also a favoured spot for Privy Council bureaucrats, who paid sky-high prices to get there.

Yvan Roy, legal counsel to Wouters, billed taxpayers $4,607 for a round-trip flight to Paris last October. The posted expense report does not explain the purpose of the trip or provide related costs, but a spokesman said it was for a conference hosted by the French government.

Another senior public servant in Harper's department — Joseph Wild, assistant secretary to cabinet — spent $4,367 on airfare to an OECD conference in Paris.

The Irish capital of Dublin was also the destination for another hefty fare — $5,117, paid by Kristina Namiesniowski, assistant secretary to the cabinet. She was there to learn about "e-government."

The jetsetters at Privy Council Office racked up other pricey airfares for several multi-stop trips overseas, making it difficult to compare prices directly.

Ward Elcock billed a whopping $15,278 to fly to four cities in Australia and New Zealand last October for two weeks of "meetings." Elcock was travelling as the prime minister's special adviser on human smuggling.

Harper's national security adviser, Stephen Rigby, was a frequent flyer last year — a five-day visit to Singapore in June set taxpayers back $10,719 in airfare alone.

And Rigby's week-long visit to Munich and London cost the treasury $6,733 in airline tickets.

All these travellers were public servants flying commercial, rather than the political staff who work inside the Prime Minister's Office, which is part of the Privy Council Office.

Harper and his political staff typically fly on government-owned aircraft, rather than commercial airlines, largely for security and logistical reasons.

The Harper government was embroiled in several travel-related controversies in 2011. CTV News reported in September that the chief of defence staff, Gen. Walter Natynczyk, spent almost $1.5 million since 2008 flying on government-owned Challenger aircraft, once to a Caribbean holiday.

And late last year, it was revealed Defence Minister Peter MacKay called in a military search-and-rescue chopper to take him from a vacation at a Newfoundland fishing camp to a nearby airport, from which he flew to a government announcement in Ontario.

The Natynczyk controversy triggered an internal memo to Harper, dated Sept. 29, outlining a cat's cradle of rules for travel spending and use of government aircraft.

The six pages of detailed policy were reviewed "in the context of recent and periodic media attention on issues of government travel," says the document, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

It notes that most senior public-service executives, such as those in the Privy Council Office, can take advantage of higher-cost business-class fares if the trip is 850 kilometres or more one way — which applies to overseas destinations, including Europe. Ottawa to London, for example, is almost 5,400 kilometres.

None of the posted airfares for Privy Council Office executives in 2011 indicate the fare type. Economy return-flights from Ottawa to London booked three months in advance currently cost about $1,200, while business class is about four times as much.

The memo to Harper cites a temporary cap on business-class travel imposed by the 2009 federal budget, which banned these higher-class tickets for flights of less than two hours for senior executives in the public service.

"While the travel cap is no longer in place, organizations are still expected to restrain spending growth in these areas, consistent with the Budget 2010 restraint measures and the Budget 2011 focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of government operations and programs," says the Sept. 29 document.

"The Government has clearly taken steps to reduce spending associated with travel and appropriately placed the onus on deputy heads to manage this reduction, including a reduction in the use of business class travel."

The memo is signed by Wayne Wouters, the clerk of the Privy Council who billed taxpayers $6,625 for a flight to London in November.

As the equivalent of a deputy minister, Wouters is subject to a looser set of travel rules. They allow him to use business class entirely at his discretion, without any requirements of minimum distances or flight times.

For most of the public service, business class is allowed only if the air travel lasts more than nine hours.

First-class travel, the highest-grade, is generally forbidden except for cabinet ministers who can book first-class for overseas flights in some circumstances, "such as when ministers are obliged to conduct business shortly after deplaning."

A spokesman for the Privy Council Office, Raymond Rivet, says all of the flights booked by department executives in 2011 "were purchased using the government approved travel supplier and in compliance with government directives."

"For some of the travel, economy class was used for the airfare portion within Canada," he added.

Travel costs for the Privy Council Office, including travel, meals and accommodations, were $2.6 million in 2010-11, down from $3.2 million in the previous year. In the first 10 months of the current fiscal year, travel costs were $1.7 million, Rivet said.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada ... ice=mobile