A bad time for renovations at DND

Timing is important when it comes to government spending. And the timing of $ 374,000 in renovations to the executive suite in the Department of National Defence’s Ottawa headquarters could not be worse.

The department’s deputy minister approved the work just weeks after DND had issued a business plan stating it needed to save money and would eliminate at least 2,100 civilian public service jobs.

DND is not the only government department sharpening its budgetcutting axe. The federal government has said it might be cutting some departments’ operating budgets by more than 10 per cent.

Given the timing, Deputy Minister Robert Fonberg’s claim, in a briefing note to Defence Minister Peter MacKay, that the upgrades will “ensure that my staff and I continue to provide the best possible service to your office,” is bound to draw the ire of some of those waiting for the axe to fall. Understandably so.

In the multibillion- dollar world of government spending, $ 374,000 is a drop in the bucket. Nor is it always desirable for the federal government to penny- pinch, even in times of constraint — cabinet ministers and top bureaucrats, for example, should expect to travel with a certain level of convenience and comfort.

But to approve an office reno that cost more than most Canadians’ houses and justify it as necessary so the executives can do their best work is especially tin- eared in this economic climate.

Thousands of government workers are also expected to provide the best possible service to taxpayers, even as they are being asked to do more with less.

Times of austerity demand leadership and, in this case, officials with DND failed that test.