When it comes to waste, the ‘winners’ are ...
In typical flamboyant fashion, on Wednesday the Canadian Taxpayers Federation rented tuxedos, dressed someone up as a giant pig and presented the annual Teddy Awards. Named for Ted Weatherill, a former head of the Canada Labour Relations Board who racked up $150,000 in meal expenses, the awards celebrate the “best of the worst in government waste.” The trophies, which feature a golden pig, are reused every year since, in 18 years, no one has yet shown up to accept their Teddy. “Strangely enough, the people who receive our awards are generally not pleased with it,” said the federation’s federal director, Aaron Wudrick. The Post’s Tristin Hopper looks at the highlights.
CANADA’ S DELEGATION TO THE COP 21 CONFERENCE( WINNER)
A lot got done at COP 21, the 2015 United Nations climatechange conference, but almost none of it had to do with the fact that Canada dispatched everyone it could find to the December summit. An incredible 350 Canadian delegates made the trip, compared to 124 and 96 sent by the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively. “Canada is back,” tweeted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Ironically, among the first to sound the alarm about the Parisian lovein was B.C. Green Party MLA Andrew Weaver, a well-known climate scientist. He decried the showing as “over the top,” “ridiculous” and “a waste of taxpayer’s money.”
THE CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSION IN LONDON (NOMINEE)
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation comes from the brown M&Ms school of taxpayer waste. In order to test the technical diligence of its promoters, the rock band Van Halen famously requested bowls of M&Ms picked clean of “brown ones” — and would order venue- wide audits if brown ones were found. Similarly, the CTF is fine with focusing on statistically insignificant spending outrages, since they may reveal a much bigger problem behind the scenes. That’s why Canada’s High Commission to the United Kingdom, headed by former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, was nominated for throwing a $200,000 party, including spending $10,000 to ship in B.C. wine and $5,000 to have four Mounties in red serge.