Post by REALITY on Dec 7, 2006 18:13:34 GMT -5
Adscam lite
Will spending scandals in Newfoundland and Ontario reinforce Canadians' negative perceptions of their governments?
Philippe Gohier, Macleans.ca | Updated Wednesday, December 6, 2006, at 12:18 EST
As federal politicians struggle to prove their integrity in the post-Adscam world, provincial spending scandals are now threatening to further undermine the faith of voters in both Newfoundland and Ontario.
On Tuesday,Newfoundland and Labrador Auditor General John Noseworthy released a report accusing five politicians of having bilked the province out of nearly $1.6-million in excess expense claims.
His most recent report adds another name to the four politicians already implicated in the scandal - charging that Percy Barrett, a former Liberal cabinet minister, received $117,286 above his alloted entitlements between 1998 and 2004.
The report also adds an additional $500,000 in bogus claims by the five politicians to the initial findings of auditors from June and July.
It's the provincial Liberals, now in opposition, who appear to have the most casualties: In addition to Barrett, Wally Andersen is accused of filing excessive claims totalling $344,465 and Jim Walsh, another former Liberal cabinet minister, had excessive claims valued at $298,571. But the matter goes well beyond party lines, with the NDP's Randy Collins accused of having overspent by $358,598. And the biggest blow might be to the current Conservative government, with former natural resources minister Ed Byrne - Williams' right-hand man who was forced to announce his resignation from cabinet in June - alleged to have run up bogus tabs totalling $467,653.
"The vast majority of these expenditures went directly, via cheques and that sort of thing, to [their] bank accounts," the A-G told reporters.
Noseworthy laid part of the blame at the feet of Newfoundland's former premier, Brian Tobin, for having barred the Auditor General's office from investistigating politicians' claims in 1998. Noseworthy found that the excessive claims "escalated" until 2003, when Williams reinstated the A-G's power to review the expenses.
In Ontario, it's not politicians who appear to have done anything wrong. Instead, the government is left answering for the behaviour of its civil servants.
The same day as Noseworthy's findings were released, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter issued a report on uncovering millions of dollars in unaccounted expenses charged to government-issued credit cards.
"I'd have to say that we noticed examples across all broader public sector areas that we looked at," McCarter said in his report.
The list of questionable expenses is indeed as wide-ranging as it is eye-popping. It includes $127-million charged to company credit cards, the issuance of $41.2-million in cheques by Hydro One employees, $6.5-million in charges on Ontario Power Generation credit cards, and thousands of dollars in charges on credit cards issued by Ontario school boards.
In Hydro One's case, few receipts were made available to justify the expenses; Ontario Power Generation couldn't provide any at all. As for the documented charges on school board credit cards, they included purchases of candy, DVDs, eyeglasses and household supplies.
These latest revelations come on the heels of an outcry over spending at some of Ontario's Children's Aid societies after a leaked copy of McCarter's report was obtained by reporters last week.
Some of the questionable Children's Aid expenses included thousands spent on international travel of dubious relevance to specific casework, and one society's purchase of a fleet of 50 vehicles - including two SUVs valued at over $50,000 each.
At the same time, McCarter's report lamented that one-third of children who should normally meet with a caseworker either within 12 hours or a week (depending on the urgency of their situation) were waiting an average of three weeks.
The two scandals come at an awkward time, with Canada having just recently having failed to rank among the ten countries perceived by their residents to be least corrupt in the inaugural Gallup Worldwide Corruption Index. With the sponsorship scandal slowly fading from memory, there was hope that Canadians might slowly be seeing their governments in a better light. In Newfoundland and Ontario, at least, that perception might again have been set back.
Will spending scandals in Newfoundland and Ontario reinforce Canadians' negative perceptions of their governments?
Philippe Gohier, Macleans.ca | Updated Wednesday, December 6, 2006, at 12:18 EST
As federal politicians struggle to prove their integrity in the post-Adscam world, provincial spending scandals are now threatening to further undermine the faith of voters in both Newfoundland and Ontario.
On Tuesday,Newfoundland and Labrador Auditor General John Noseworthy released a report accusing five politicians of having bilked the province out of nearly $1.6-million in excess expense claims.
His most recent report adds another name to the four politicians already implicated in the scandal - charging that Percy Barrett, a former Liberal cabinet minister, received $117,286 above his alloted entitlements between 1998 and 2004.
The report also adds an additional $500,000 in bogus claims by the five politicians to the initial findings of auditors from June and July.
It's the provincial Liberals, now in opposition, who appear to have the most casualties: In addition to Barrett, Wally Andersen is accused of filing excessive claims totalling $344,465 and Jim Walsh, another former Liberal cabinet minister, had excessive claims valued at $298,571. But the matter goes well beyond party lines, with the NDP's Randy Collins accused of having overspent by $358,598. And the biggest blow might be to the current Conservative government, with former natural resources minister Ed Byrne - Williams' right-hand man who was forced to announce his resignation from cabinet in June - alleged to have run up bogus tabs totalling $467,653.
"The vast majority of these expenditures went directly, via cheques and that sort of thing, to [their] bank accounts," the A-G told reporters.
Noseworthy laid part of the blame at the feet of Newfoundland's former premier, Brian Tobin, for having barred the Auditor General's office from investistigating politicians' claims in 1998. Noseworthy found that the excessive claims "escalated" until 2003, when Williams reinstated the A-G's power to review the expenses.
In Ontario, it's not politicians who appear to have done anything wrong. Instead, the government is left answering for the behaviour of its civil servants.
The same day as Noseworthy's findings were released, Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter issued a report on uncovering millions of dollars in unaccounted expenses charged to government-issued credit cards.
"I'd have to say that we noticed examples across all broader public sector areas that we looked at," McCarter said in his report.
The list of questionable expenses is indeed as wide-ranging as it is eye-popping. It includes $127-million charged to company credit cards, the issuance of $41.2-million in cheques by Hydro One employees, $6.5-million in charges on Ontario Power Generation credit cards, and thousands of dollars in charges on credit cards issued by Ontario school boards.
In Hydro One's case, few receipts were made available to justify the expenses; Ontario Power Generation couldn't provide any at all. As for the documented charges on school board credit cards, they included purchases of candy, DVDs, eyeglasses and household supplies.
These latest revelations come on the heels of an outcry over spending at some of Ontario's Children's Aid societies after a leaked copy of McCarter's report was obtained by reporters last week.
Some of the questionable Children's Aid expenses included thousands spent on international travel of dubious relevance to specific casework, and one society's purchase of a fleet of 50 vehicles - including two SUVs valued at over $50,000 each.
At the same time, McCarter's report lamented that one-third of children who should normally meet with a caseworker either within 12 hours or a week (depending on the urgency of their situation) were waiting an average of three weeks.
The two scandals come at an awkward time, with Canada having just recently having failed to rank among the ten countries perceived by their residents to be least corrupt in the inaugural Gallup Worldwide Corruption Index. With the sponsorship scandal slowly fading from memory, there was hope that Canadians might slowly be seeing their governments in a better light. In Newfoundland and Ontario, at least, that perception might again have been set back.