Jump to content
Jambands.ca

Oh, Bev Oda!


Hux

Recommended Posts

In Dion's defense on that, the entire Canadian delegation was at the Intercontinental (which is connected to the conference center by an underground tunnel). They had daily briefing meetings at 7am there. As the chair of the convention, he basically had to stay 'till midnight or later many nights a week and be back in the Intercontinental before 7am the next morning. Barring his living in downtown montreal, the back and forth would be a huge pain in the ass when you're only getting 4-5 hours of possible sleeping time each night.

No excuses for the limo. If Pettigrew can get around using the metro, so can Dion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also to clarify, Ministers of the Crown are given a car and driver, it is not a limo, in Dion's case I believe the expenses in question related to his driver (of course conveniently referred to as a "chauffeur") who was in Mtl driving Dion (in his Ministerial car) and it's his hotel expenses, etc. (and I guess Dion's for staying downtown as per the details Blane provided)

In Oda's case it was actually a few stretched limos that she rented from what I've gathered as she wouldn't drive to Halifax in her Ministerial car, whereas Dion would likely from Ottawa->Montreal - dig?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Junos are a red-carpet event, the marquee event for Canadian arts actually. It's about the red carpet, the glitz, schmoozing, back patting, grant suckling, VIP greasing and limo arriving. The TV cameras and pseudo-Hollywood B.S. that goes with the Junos demands a limo. A Kyoto conference demands a pair of roller blades or public transit at the very least.

The dollar figure difference is substantial.

Transportation costs at definitive Ministerial event:

Dion: $14200

Oda: $3250

There would be many more incidental costs at the Junos. It's quite impressive she managed to keep the bill that low.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually she billed $5500 then returned just over $2000 when she realized that having an assortment of limos ferrying her around – or on standby – for up to seven hours, and billing it to the public wouldn't fly.

The hotel (where she stayed) is one-tenth of a kilometre from the Metro Centre where the Juno event took place.

But back up for a minute - I thought Conservatives were going to do things differently ya know?

Liberals = corrupt pigs at the trough

Conservativse = accountable etc. etc?

Shouldn't they be going out of their way to prove this? is hiding expenses then only paying $$ back when it becomes public really any different than the corrupt dirty Liberals?

talk the talk....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Weren't the Junos in Ottawa recently? the whole event is more than what is televised. It's a week-long hullabaloo. Different events, announcements, interviews, parties - undoubtedly the type of cultural festival that our minister in charge of arts and cultute would need a limo for. I'm willing to bet she didn't go straight from her hotel to the ceremony. Distance is irrelevant, especially when Dion just had to pack his knapsack and walk down the stairs.

Measure the crime by the dollar. Especially in the big picture. $5,000 on job-related expenses is enough to make a government corrupt? Well...

If I had to dip into my own pocket to buy a cheeseburger on the clock and my empolyer wouldn't pay for it, I don't know what I'd do. Do you really think that Ministers should cover transportation costs out of their own pocket? That she paid back any of the 'scandolous' funds is a sign of acknowledgment and therefore accountability. It's token accountability though...those were undisputable job-related expenses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

you guys got suckered on teh CTF word-mincing. REad it again:

For the period July 2004 to November 2005, records show Mr. Dion’s chauffeur billed $14,225 in 98 separate expenses for trips between Gatineau (the capital region) and Montreal. The expenses include transportation costs, meals, telephone charges, etc.

The driving bill was for 1.5 years worth of travel, not at all related to the COP. Total shady journalism on their part.

The COP is 2 weeks long, so 5,500 over 2 weeks is pretty chill for the President of the conference (host country's minister of environment presides each year), IMO. My own total allowance for one of these things in Montreal (if I was coming from out of town) would be close to 4000 US dollars as a lowly UN minion (source: http://icsc.un.org/resources/getData.asp?id=canada ).

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

John Williamson of the "CTF" is a douchebag of epic proportions. There are few people involved in Canadian politics who I have less respect for.

(It's not just this stuff)*actually it's not this stuff at all.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...