Heritage
Minister Broke Treasury Board Guidelines
By Liberal MP Mike Savage
Heritage
Minister Bev Oda billed Canadian taxpayers thousands of dollars for her to
ride in style in stretch limousines at the Juno awards last year in
Halifax.
Not
only was this over-the-top expense completely unnecessary, it was also
rather ironic given the fact that under Ms. Oda’s watch we have seen
funding slashed in almost every area of her department.
This
Heritage Minister’s record has been abominable – she has slashed
funding to women’s programs, gutted museum funding and abandoned the
Canadian Television Fund (CTF).
How
can she possibly justify asking taxpayers to foot the bill for her Juno
joyride while the programs in her department languish due to lack of
funding?
Ms.
Oda’s blatant misuse of taxpayer dollars is an abuse of her office and
an affront to Canadians. And
her actions are made still more offensive by her inexplicable failure to
properly disclose her lavish expenses.
She charged
her stretch limo rides to Canadians taxpayers and then claimed that she
followed all the rules. However, it is clear that this is not the case.
We know Ms. Oda did not follow the rules because she avoided
posting the inappropriate and embarrassing expense on her department’s
website. Treasury Board guidelines require Ministers to disclose all
expenses incurred while on Ministerial business, including the cost of
renting transportation. Despite this very clear guideline, for the period
covering the time the Minister was in Halifax there is absolutely no
mention of her stretch limousine expense on the Heritage Canada website.
Instead of
continuing her attempts to mislead the public, Ms. Oda should come clean,
return the money she owes to Canadians and explain why she failed to
disclose the expenses in the first place.
Canadian
taxpayers are justified in being outraged at this Minister’s extravagant
spending. And the fact that Treasury Board guidelines were broken to hide
the expense is equally troubling.
Prime
Minister Stephen Harper preaches an endless refrain of accountability, but
how can he expect Canadians to believe him when them when he condones his
Ministers’ wasteful and irresponsible spending and allows them to flout
the rules at every turn?
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Contact:
Office
of Mike Savage
(613) 995-9378
