Canadian Politics
Paying off Dingwall
By Arthur Weinreb, Associate Editor,
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
In the olden days people would take a few years out of
their productive lives to run for public office. If elected they would perform
their public service and then return to their previous careers. Those days are
long gone and Parliament and the legislatures are filled with professional
politicians. Armed with an exaggerated sense of self importance and basking in
their power, they come to see taxpayers’ money as their own and truly believe
that the public service means that the country’s citizens are there to serve
them and their every whim.
It
is sad to see someone who enters politics late in life after a successful
career in the private sector be forced to act in the mindless manner that they
sometimes are and be forced to defend the indefensible. Revenue Minister John
McCallum entered politics in November 2000. He had been a professor of
economics and a senior vice president and chief economist with the Royal Bank
of Canada. Now he is reduced to just another blubbering idiot as he attempts to
justify the Liberal Party’s desire to provide the former head of the Canadian
Mint, David Dingwall, with a severance package.
Dingwall
resigned his $277,000 a year job after it was revealed that his 2004 expenses approached
three quarters of a million dollars. In addition to enjoying a luxurious
lifestyle, the former Nova Scotia MP forced the taxpayers to pick up the tab
for packages of chewing gum, cups of coffee and bottles of water. Dingwall has
also been under investigation for improper lobbying activities.
As can be seen in their refusal to
provide any gas tax relief to the middle class, the Liberals don’t give a damn
about ordinary Canadians. But they can sure take care of their own and the
government wants to pay severance to David Dingwall even though he voluntarily
quit his patronage position. Dingwall’s behaviour was so egregious that it
should not be referred to as feeding from the trough as that would be highly
unfair to pigs.
The
government trotted out the hapless Revenue Minister to tell the Opposition and
the unwashed masses why Dingwall had to receive a severance package. McCallum
said that the government received legal advice that a payout or more
appropriately, a payoff, was required but he refused to say what that advice
was or who were the lucky Liberal-friendly lawyers who gave it. McCallum cited
the common law, the Royal Mint Act, the Financial Administration Act and the
Crown Corporation General Regulations as reasons why Dingwall had to be paid
after voluntarily quitting but couldn’t quote any specific sections that showed
a legal requirement to pay severance. The only “reason” to emerge was one that
appeared in Canadian Employment Law Today. The author postulated that Dingwall
may have been subjected to constructive dismissal but it is hard to see how
someone can be constructively dismissed from a job when the big boss can’t stop
singing his praises in the House of Commons and elsewhere. McCallum’s a bright
guy but was reduced to a blabbering idiot; trying to convince the opposition
and Canadians of something that by all appearances, he didn’t even believe
himself.
There
are a few reasons why the Liberals want Dingwall paid off. He is one of their
own and deserves payment as of right. After all, it’s not like it’s the Liberal
Party’s money. Used to spending billions, $500,000 in severance is chump change
to Paul Martin and the gang; they can spend half a million without giving it a
second thought (or a first thought for that matter).
More
importantly, the government is scared to death of a court battle where David
Dingwall is forced to defend himself. Dingwall has said all along that his
spending has followed the guidelines and the Liberals don’t need that fact to
come out. Let’s face it; David Dingwall doesn’t appear bright enough to have
thought up expensing chewing gum and doughnuts all by himself. No doubt
Dingwall’s prolific spending is just the tip of the iceberg and the Liberals
don’t want that fact to come out.
And
with Ottawa in election mode the Liberals want David Dingwall to just
disappear. If the matter drags on during an election it will be hard for
Canadians to buy a cup of coffee without realizing that they have bought one
for Dingwall. Pay him and it will just all go away.
Ya
done good, John in your role as the village idiot. Relax. Have a few
drinks--try and take a plane somewhere. It’s not like you would have to pay for
it yourself.
Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. His work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck and The Rant. Arthur can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com
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