Liberals to review perks given to former GGs
PRIME MINISTER TO REVIEW PERKS GIVEN TO GOVERNORS GENERAL
Adrienne Clarkson was not viewed as a penny-pincher during her time as governor general — at least not when it came to spending public money.
While she was generally regarded as a conscientious GG — accessible to the public and supportive of Canadian troops overseas — the stories of highrolling were legion.
Take the time in 1999 when she and her husband, John Ralston Saul, preferred to fly home from Edmonton by Challenger VIP jet, even though a (noisier, more uncomfortable) de Havilland Dash 8 was sitting on the tarmac. The cost to the taxpayer was a mere $60,000.
Then there was the 19-day circumpolar “northern identity” tour she and a 50 member delegation took to Russia, Finland and Iceland that ended up costing $5.3 million, even before the second half of the trip to Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Greenland was undertaken (it was cancelled after the expenditure story went public).
During her time in office — 1999-2005 — expenditures at Rideau Hall are estimated to have skyrocketed. I say “estimated” because at the time, the GG’s spending was less transparent than that of the Queen herself. Clarkson was ostensibly the monarch’s representative in Canada but she preferred to see herself as the direct representative of “the Crown”, rather than the Queen, making the vice-regal position the country’s actual head of state (which is not the view of the government of Canada).
All this is background to the revelation in the National Post Wednesday by my colleague, Brian Platt, that Clarkson is still billing taxpayers more than $100,000 a year in office expenses, 13 years after leaving Rideau Hall.
This is on top of her $143,816 annuity and the $4.8 million (as of 2013) the government has contributed toward Clarkson’s charity of choice, the Institute of Canadian Citizenship that she founded and co-chairs.
The former governor general’s spending habits while in office suggested someone who felt she was entitled to her entitlements. But should the public be on the hook in perpetuity to fund her projects? The answer is clearly: no, it should not.
Clarkson has received more than $1.1 million to pay for expenses but taxpayers have no idea what the money was used for. The former governor general’s executive assistant told Platt it is a “private matter”. Rideau Hall says it required receipts and invoices but it would not disclose them. It may be that other governors general are also receiving sums in the same ballpark. All we know is that Clarkson’s payments show up every year (except 2012-2014) because they have exceeded $100,000 and therefore show up as a line item in the government’s public accounts. As mentioned, even the Royal Household is more accountable when it comes to disclosing its net spending of $79.3 million.
Clarkson has once again been branded as a snollygoster, guided by personal advantage not principle. But she has no ability to demand payment.
Rather it is the government of the day that should be held accountable. The idea that expenses should be paid after an office-holder leaves that office — and paid for life — has no parallel in Canadian public life.
The story appears to have caught the public’s imagination. The Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation said that it had received 10,000 signatures on a petition to end the payments in a matter of hours.
The prime minister, having sniffed the winds of public opinion, said he’ll reconsider the perks and supports given to former governors general, though he has said something similar to defuse past spending scandals. Justin Trudeau said people who serve as governor general offer a service to Canada but the public expects accountability and transparency when public money is spent.
That has not been forthcoming. Rideau Hall would not provide details on the expenses. In a statement, it merely explained the background to the program — that since 1979 the federal government covers “reasonable and justified administrative expenses” for governors general for costs incurred for activities related to their former role.
“Once governors general end their mandate, there remains an expectation that they continue to serve as Canadian leading figures. This expectation of continued public life means that they are regularly solicited to support various causes, take part in important events and undertake official activities,” said a statement from Natalie Babin Dufresne, director of communications at the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada.
The news breaks at a time when the current Governor General, Julie Payette, is trying to rehabilitate the institution’s reputation after weeks of adverse publicity over her first year in office. The Clarkson revelation will offer grist for republicans who think the whole vice-regal office is a waste of money.
Her Excellency might think about being frugal with the candy at Rideau Halloween.