G8-G20, Haiku Contest Among Government Waste ‘Award’ Winners

Excessive waste of taxpayers’ dollars was the focus of the “Teddy Waste Awards” ceremony on Parliament Hill Tuesday.

The spoof awards are held each year by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation “to recognize the best of the worst in government waste.”

This year, the Federal Teddy went to organizers of the G8-G20 summit “for managing to spend a billion dollars on a political chin-wag, ironically organized to discuss how to trim government over-spending,” said CTF federal director Kevin Gaudet in a release.

The Provincial Teddy went to 1,250 Ontario tax collectors who were paid up to $45,000 each in severance when Ontario changed from the Provincial Sales Tax to the Harmonized Sales Tax—without losing their jobs. They received what adds up to a maximum payout of $56 million simply for being transferred from the provincial government to the federal government.

The City of Edmonton won the Municipal Teddy for spending $5,000 on a contest to get people to write poems or haikus about riding the bus—this despite already paying an official poet laureate $5,000 a year to write poetry for the city.

The Lifetime Achievement Teddy went to former Toronto Mayor David Miller “for a career of reckless taxing-and-spending,” Gaudet said.

“As mayor, Miller grew the city’s operating budget by 44 percent to $2.8 billion, increased the city’s debt by more than $1 billion, and increased property taxes every year well beyond the rate of inflation. He fought for and got new taxing powers which he used to impose a host of new taxes, including a plastic bag tax, garbage tax, car tax, billboard tax, and land transfer tax.”

Gaudet added that over the years, “Miller has provided so much material for the Teddies we will see if future municipal nominations will suffer with his departure.”

Other nominees include the Space Agency and Agriculture Canada for the failed $400,000 “Canadian Content” astronaut food program; a Border Services Agency employee who spent five hours a day at work surfing porn and wasn’t fired; Public Works for spending $550 million for maintenance including $1,000 for removing one light switch; and Senator Raymond Lavigne who received $30,000 for expenses while suspended from the Senate.

“We hold the Teddies every year during award-season to bring to the public’s attention government waste and to point out where government can do better,” said Gaudet.

“Holding the Teddies helps to ensure that if politicians and bureaucrats waste our money, we can turn it into a punch-line to hold them accountable.”
The Teddy award is named after Ted Weatherill, a former federal bureaucrat who was fired for outlandish expenses in 1999.