“Hard-working Canadians look at us to provide high-quality, affordable service for their tax dollars,” Clement told the Globe and Mail in the wake of that announcement. “Either poor performers improve and become productive as employees — or we will have to let them go.” It is ironic that the crackdown on federal civil servants comes not only as many of them are losing their jobs due to budget cuts but also at a time when politicians in Ottawa are under a microscope for their own waste of taxpayers’ dollars. The Treasury Board president certainly has his own baggage to haul in terms of delivering taxpayers bang for their buck. In 2011, John Wiersema, the interim federal auditor general at the time, told the public accounts committee that myriad protocols were sidestepped and rules broken when the Conservative government approved projects related to the G-8 and G-20 summits. Infrastructure projects worth $50 million were approved in Clement’s Muskoka-Parry Sound riding without the normal oversight, Wiersema said. The projects included sidewalks, a gazebo and public washrooms that were miles away from the site of the summit meetings. The normal bureaucratic recommendations were not received. Instead, then-infrastructure minister John Baird approved projects based on input from Clement, the auditor said."
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:00:31 +0000
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