Tory senator grumbles about 'cold Camembert' airline food
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Tory senator grumbles about 'cold Camembert' airline food
Good Evening All:
In the “Old Days” this would have qualified for the moniker “Pigs in Space” with apologies to the late Jim Henson of The Muppet's fame....
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle23746508/
OTTAWA — The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, Apr. 01 2015, 4:20 PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 01 2015, 5:15 PM EDT
A Conservative senator is miffed that she’s being asked to justify claiming a meal expense while travelling when she could have eaten a free airline breakfast of “cold Camembert with broken crackers.”
Nancy Ruth says that’s the level of detail she’s been subjected to by Auditor-General Michael Ferguson, who is conducting a comprehensive audit of senators’ expenses.
Ferguson was invited by the Senate last year to conduct the audit following embarrassing revelations about allegedly improper expense claims by Conservative senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin and Liberal senator Mac Harb, who has since resigned.
Duffy, Brazeau and Harb have all been charged with fraud and breach of trust; the RCMP investigation into Wallin’s expense claims is continuing.
Ferguson is expected to release the results of the audit in June.
Some senators have been grumbling privately for months about the intrusiveness of the audit and expressing fears that Ferguson doesn’t understand the nature of the work they do.
In the “Old Days” this would have qualified for the moniker “Pigs in Space” with apologies to the late Jim Henson of The Muppet's fame....
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle23746508/
OTTAWA — The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, Apr. 01 2015, 4:20 PM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Apr. 01 2015, 5:15 PM EDT
A Conservative senator is miffed that she’s being asked to justify claiming a meal expense while travelling when she could have eaten a free airline breakfast of “cold Camembert with broken crackers.”
Nancy Ruth says that’s the level of detail she’s been subjected to by Auditor-General Michael Ferguson, who is conducting a comprehensive audit of senators’ expenses.
Ferguson was invited by the Senate last year to conduct the audit following embarrassing revelations about allegedly improper expense claims by Conservative senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin and Liberal senator Mac Harb, who has since resigned.
Duffy, Brazeau and Harb have all been charged with fraud and breach of trust; the RCMP investigation into Wallin’s expense claims is continuing.
Ferguson is expected to release the results of the audit in June.
Some senators have been grumbling privately for months about the intrusiveness of the audit and expressing fears that Ferguson doesn’t understand the nature of the work they do.
Last edited by a330pilotcanada; 2nd Apr 2015 at 02:57. Reason: spelling and missing hyperlink
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At the Trough.....
Our 'system' of government has quietly disintegrated. Senators are responsible to nobody and it is we the tax-payer who pay for their excesses. There had been a move to make their positions answerable to those who pay for their expenses and camembert cheese.. Arrogance to the extreme. Those who are doing the investigating need to push for a nice few months in the 'pen' to bring those around to reality.
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Oh wait, you're all attacking the senator? I assumed the "They never cease to amaze me" was referring to the auditors or something.
I can't believe people here think it's bad for her to be expensing a breakfast, and that she should make do with just the airline breakfast. Really? You think it's reasonable for someone travelling on business to only eat the airline food all day, and nothing else?
Also, I agree with her that it's a bit ridiculous for them to be going into such detail over such a minor thing. Surely there are bigger fish to fry?
PS, you should read the article. The camembert wasn't an expense -- the cheese was the airline "meal"!
I can't believe people here think it's bad for her to be expensing a breakfast, and that she should make do with just the airline breakfast. Really? You think it's reasonable for someone travelling on business to only eat the airline food all day, and nothing else?
Also, I agree with her that it's a bit ridiculous for them to be going into such detail over such a minor thing. Surely there are bigger fish to fry?
PS, you should read the article. The camembert wasn't an expense -- the cheese was the airline "meal"!
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I don't think it's unreasonable for them to expense meals. Most jobs that take one away from home have some form of expense or per diem.
I'm not well educated on the finer points of a Senators income package, but if they have an expense system rather than a daily per diem than damn straight they need to account for every cent that is spent - and the expense must be reasonable.
This investigation is looking into such small details because the system as a whole has been abused. I won't stray into the politics of whether we should have a Senate or not, but all politicians - elected or otherwise - must understand that everything they do is a matter of public record, including what they had for breakfast.
I get a call from the accounting department if there is something wrong with my expenses, so why shouldn't our leaders? If they want to grumble about the "intrusiveness" of this audit, then they should pack their bags and go back home...their real one that is, not the one they expensed out...
I'm not well educated on the finer points of a Senators income package, but if they have an expense system rather than a daily per diem than damn straight they need to account for every cent that is spent - and the expense must be reasonable.
This investigation is looking into such small details because the system as a whole has been abused. I won't stray into the politics of whether we should have a Senate or not, but all politicians - elected or otherwise - must understand that everything they do is a matter of public record, including what they had for breakfast.
I get a call from the accounting department if there is something wrong with my expenses, so why shouldn't our leaders? If they want to grumble about the "intrusiveness" of this audit, then they should pack their bags and go back home...their real one that is, not the one they expensed out...
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On many occasions I expensed a meal that duplicated one from an airline. Calling the miserable little things served recently a "meal" is absurd. Had I been challenged, I would have exploded.
After an excellent landing etc...
After an excellent landing etc...
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Now I'm certainly not in favour of lavish expenditures including $25 glasses of OJ but what are you looking to attract here? Sure, have all our Senators and MP's on bread and water and while your at it, cut their salary in half! After all, I'm starting to believe many Canadians would be happy with a bunch of dope smoking kids running our country at much lesser conditions.
