For our Canadian friends: The 15th annual Teddy Awards.

[monovillage]

Just in case you think the US is the only ones with government waste, fraud and abuse and taxpayer groups to fight it here's The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) doing their part north of the border.

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today held its 15th annual Teddy Waste Awards ceremony, roasting the year’s worst and funniest examples of government waste. CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas, Master of Ceremonies, joined the charming and talented Catherine Brière and the CTF’s pig mascot Porky the Waste Hater at the swine-studded gala, held on Parliament Hill at the Charles Lynch Press Conference Theatre.

The CTF’s signature waste award, the Teddy, is named for Ted Weatherill, a former federal appointee sacked in 1999 after submitting a litany of dubious expenses, including a $700 lunch for two. Each year the CTF hosts the Teddy awards to shine the spotlight on corruption and waste in government at every level, whether it’s on Parliament Hill, in a provincial capital, at city hall, the band office, or the school board office.

“It’s enough to bring you to tears sometimes, these greedy scheming politicians,” said Thomas. “Once a year we can all have a laugh about it, and more importantly, about them.”

Federal Teddy Winner: Chief Roger Redman, Standing Buffalo First Nation

When band members gathered to impeach him, the Chief padlocked the band office and confiscated the chequebook. For leading the Standing Buffalo reserve, home to 443 people, Chief Redman took home more after-tax income than the Prime Minister, and each of his councillors out-earned Saskatchewan’s premier.

more awards at http://www.taxpayer.com/news-releases/15th-annual--teddy--government-waste-awards-winners

My best wishes to our friends in the north.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Gilles Duceppe is the absolute hog.... A rabid separatist, he nevertheless draws money from the federal budget!

"Former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe received lifetime achievement accolades in the 14th annual Teddy Waste Award ceremony, put on by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Wednesday to highlight what it deems to be wasteful government spending. Mr. Duceppe lost his seat in last May’s federal election, but the federation said his career in federal politics — performed while dedicated to the cause of Quebec sovereignty — has cost taxpayers a total of $41.8-million.

In awarding him the lifetime achievement award, Taxpayers Federation director Gregory Thomas noted: Mr. Duceppe lost his seat in Parliament, but he’s still collecting $140,765 every year for life from Canadian taxpayers, the gift of a grateful nation for a lifetime of devoted service to trying to break it up. "

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com...ralded-for-a-lifetime-of-waste-in-parliament/

 

[ShawnD1]

Metro Vancouver Translink: untold costs to mobilize the RCMP, the Coast Guard, Transport Canada, Vancouver Airport security and Air Canada security, when the Metro Vancouver Transit Police forgot explosives on a commercial Air Canada plane after a training exercise with their bomb-sniffing dog.

The explosives were probably in the cargo area where nobody could detonate it, so this is more funny than alarming.

Local Teddy Winner: Toronto Maintenance and Skilled Trades Council

The Toronto Maintenance and Skilled Trades Council billed the Toronto Public School District for 293,000 work orders totalling $158 million, including $143 to attach a pencil sharpener to a desk with four screws and $266 for hanging three pictures on a wall. Union boss, Jimmy Hazel believes in being accountable – to himself. As he told a Toronto Star reporter “We don’t need to f----ing prove anything to anybody about costs.”

I hate to sound like a corrupt douche, but those costs actually do sound accurate. My neighbor paid a plumber something like $200 or $300 to unclog a toilet after they flushed a large fish down the toilet. The actual work involved takes maybe 30 minutes. You turn off the water supply, remove the water from the toilet, unscrew 2 or 4 bolts holding the toilet down, remove the toilet, pull the fish out. It's sort of like how Geek Squad wants $60 to install software. It's literally 1 minute worth of mouse clicks then seeing if you can finish jerking off before the install finishes.

"In awarding him the lifetime achievement award, Taxpayers Federation director Gregory Thomas noted: Mr. Duceppe lost his seat in Parliament, but he’s still collecting $140,765 every year for life from Canadian taxpayers, the gift of a grateful nation for a lifetime of devoted service to trying to break it up. "

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com...ralded-for-a-lifetime-of-waste-in-parliament/

You make it sound like destroying Canada is a bad thing. Ask most Canadians, and they will tell you that Canada would be better off without Quebec. Quebec is the reason federal employees are required to be bilingual and thus get paid very high wages. They're the reason everything sold in Canada has both French and English, and English is always on the side you're not looking at. Quebec's GDP and average income is well below the national average. Quebec is the largest welfare recipient because it's ghetto poor and it contains about 1/4 of the country's people.

To put this all in context, kicking Quebec out of Canada would be like kicking the bible belt out of the US. Each group would be happier without the other.

 

[Yreka]

Props to Canada. Even in the context of humor, if it shines the light on the seedy underbelly of government waste = a VERY good thing..

Especially in the current climate of:

Reduce amount of spending increase ( +7 to +5, not 0 or even -5) = OHMAAGAAWDD NO POLICE FIREMEN TEACHERS INFRASTRUCTURE!!!!!

Meanwhile at a local level you have redundant middle managers with employer leased luxury autos + a larger take home salary than the POTUS

 

[monovillage]

I was kind of hoping that our Canadian poster friends would speak up about their own problems. Their own fraud and waste.

 

[Orignal Earl]

I was kind of hoping that our Canadian poster friends would speak up about their own problems. Their own fraud and waste.

It's kind of embarrassing to talk about our waste when the forum is full of the American waste.
It's like trying to brag up our tank