jordan
Emperor of the Nerd Kingdom
Joined: 01 Oct 2004
Posts: 575
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 Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 2:52 am Post subject: Luxuries for our Esteemed Bureaucrats... |
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http://www.thestar.com/News/article/241205
| Quote: | Life in the luxe lane for Ottawa's driven minority
Cars and drivers, a top perk for many federal VIPs, are costing taxpayers millions of dollars a year
July 30, 2007
RICHARD BRENNAN
OTTAWA BUREAU
OTTAWA–You know you've made it in this political town when you have a car and driver. Boy, are a lot people making it.
Politicians and senior mandarins, some living a short walk from Parliament Hill, climb each morning into the back of a taxpayer-supplied, chauffeur-driven set of wheels.
The cars, often black with tinted windows, are everywhere, waiting for the boss to come back from a meeting, lunch or a bit of shopping. Publicly funded luxury doesn't come cheap – the fleet costs taxpayers millions of dollars per year.
"What I don't think Canadians are aware of are the number of officials who do have access to a taxpayer-funded car and driver," says John Williamson, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. "And it's not just cabinet but also the unelected officials as well."
In the private sector, company-provided limos and drivers are usually reserved for the very top tier of executives.
"We have done work with very big companies on both sides of the border and I have never negotiated a compensation package that has included a car and a driver," says Toronto corporate headhunter Stephen Moore, a partner in Kinley & Connelly.
Working in Ottawa, however, can mean life in the luxury lane.
Those authorized to use the federal executive vehicle fleet include: cabinet ministers, ministers of state, secretaries of state, deputy ministers and some other senior officials.
In Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, 26 cabinet ministers and six ministers of state (junior ministers) have a car and driver – a total of 32. The maximum price for a cabinet minister's car is $32,400; lesser officials' cars can cost up to $27,000.
The government also provides 54 deputy ministers with vehicles. Some, but not all, have chauffeurs.
The drivers are paid between $43,826 and $47,447 a year, not including overtime. Many drivers, however, have other duties as part of their job.
Every three years, or 150,000 kilometres, the 85-vehicle executive fleet is replaced. New replacements are to be hybrids or other forms of low-emission vehicles.
The annual cost of providing cars and drivers to cabinet ministers and their unelected deputies is about $6 million. Commission heads and other entitled officials push that figure up even higher.
There is a fleet of vehicles, of course, for the Prime Minister, his wife and children. For security reasons, the RCMP refuses to divulge how many black SUVs and other vehicles await Harper's call.
NDP Leader Jack Layton has a car but says he seldom uses it, and when he does it's a member of his staff behind the wheel.
"It mostly just sits there getting very dusty," said Layton, known for his love of cycling. He said he and his wife, MP Olivia Chow, own Ottawa bicycles, Toronto bicycles and a tandem bike.
Liberal MP John Godfrey (Don Valley West), a former cabinet minister, says having a car was "obviously a convenience" but for some it's more of a "status" symbol. He's also a frequent cyclist.
Environment Minister John Baird said his chauffeured minivan, which burns ethanol made from corn stalks, allows him to get more work done because it is, effectively, an office on wheels.
"It allows you to do several things at once. I can get ready for the day, I can sign correspondence, read the daily briefing notes," Baird said.
Duff Conacher, co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, a non-profit, non-partisan group promoting ethical behaviour in government and business, is urging Parliament to cut back on the frills, along with MPs' base salary of $150,000.
"These kinds of perks are the things that put politicians out of touch with the day-to-day realities of voters ..." he says. "If you put people into that kind of lifestyle, then they don't face any of the problems that the average voter faces."
At Queen's Park, only cabinet ministers get cars and drivers. Some 26 deputy ministers get cars but no drivers. At Toronto City Hall, Mayor David Miller is the only worker provided with a driver and car, a hybrid. Councillors used to have a pool of six cars, at a cost of $350,000 per year, but the perk was scrapped in 2001. Two other Toronto employees, however, are provided with a car and driver – Police Chief Bill Blair and Police Services Board chair Alok Mukherjee.
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