Brass forced to rein in costly ceremony
Initial budget for event was $107,000
A plan by military brass to spend $107,000 on a changeof-command ceremony earlier this year sparked a heated battle inside National Defence headquarters in Ottawa over the proper way to spend taxpayers’ money.
Ultimately, deputy Defence minister Jody Thomas refused to approve the expense and the generals were forced to scale back the cost of the May 4 ceremony to around $24,000, Postmedia has confirmed.
The battle over costs centred on the ceremony to mark the change in leadership at the Royal Canadian Air Force from Lt.-Gen. Mike Hood to Lt.-Gen. Al Meinzinger.
The initial budget was $107,000, according to DND, but Thomas balked at that cost so it was scaled down to $80,000. The deputy minister declined to approve that amount, noting that while such a ceremony was important for military traditions, taxpayers would not look kindly on the high price-tag.
The cost was dropped again, but not before very heated debates between senior military staff, including Hood and the deputy minister, a number of defence sources noted.
The ceremony, held for approximately 400 people, had a final cost of $23,711, DND spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier confirmed.
“The deputy minister takes her accountabilities as prescribed by the Financial Administration Act seriously,” explained Le Bouthillier. “By effectively managing public funds and ensuring effective departmental leadership through the promotion of financial responsibility and accountability, the deputy minister sets the climate for the delivery of results and priorities set by the government of Canada.”
The ceremony was conducted at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa and costs included transporting military personnel, paying their expenses, printing invitations, renting the venue and catering the event. The ceremony was attended by Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance, who described the event as “poignant.”
“(It) marks the very cadence of life in the armed forces,” Vance said.
There was concern among bureaucrats that the cost for the ceremony would create more negative publicity for the Forces, still dealing with the fallout from a VIP trip late last December to Europe. Vance’s staff planned that trip, which ended in a sex assault charge against former NHL player Dave “Tiger” Williams. The trip cost taxpayers more than $337,000, according to figures compiled by Postmedia.
When Williams was charged in February, Vance’s office suggested such trips, which involve sending celebrities and sports personalities overseas to boost the morale of troops, cost around $15,000 each.
The trip has been dubbed the “party” flight by some military personnel because of what unfolded on the RCAF Polaris aircraft. VIPs were allowed to bring their own alcohol on the plane and there are allegations two individuals were so drunk they urinated on themselves.
Change of command ceremonies usually cost taxpayers under $20,000 and proceed largely unnoticed by the public.
But in 1996, a change-ofcommand ceremony garnered headlines when documents released through the Access to Information law revealed the $100,000-plus cost when Maj.-Gen. John Archibald MacInnis transferred his command of Land Forces Atlantic Area to Maj.-Gen. Ray Crabbe. The spending was approved even as soldiers in Atlantic Canada were being required to do without extra practice ammunition.
Shortly before that ceremony, military public affairs officer Maj. Brett Boudreau warned MacInnis’s office the lavish parade would upset taxpayers and troops. Boudreau urged that only $15,000 be spent.
That prompted MacInnis’s chief of staff to respond. “To some the mere ‘concept’ of command is vulgar let alone the very idea that we should pay a penny to witness its handoff. F--k them!’’
The Forces later hired MacInnis as a mentor and guide for a course on leadership and ethics at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto.