|
| More Bureacratic mismanagement - Thursday, June 26, 2003 at 09:01 |
|
PUBLICATION: The Ottawa Citizen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The former head of the federal gun registry racked up more than $209,000 in travel and hotel expenses commuting between his Edmonton home and the centre's main office in Ottawa over two years, government documents show. Gary Webster, chief executive officer of the Canadian Firearms Centre until last February, commuted to Ottawa three weeks each month in 10 of the 19 months he held the position, according to documents obtained by the Canadian Alliance under the Access to Information Act. The revelations come after the auditor general last year slammed the gun control program, which was supposed to cost just $2 million, but had ballooned to about $1 billion. In the other nine months that Mr. Webster was the centre's chief, he commuted between his residence and the Ottawa office two weeks each month for five months and made the trip once a month for four months. Flying business class, at a return-trip cost of $2,900 to $3,030 each time, Mr. Webster racked up a total of $168,866.70 in taxpayer expenses for airline tickets over a 23-month period. A spokesman for the Canadian Firearms Centre denied Mr. Webster was commuting to Ottawa, insisting instead that the firearms chief was keeping a promise he made when he took the job to travel to the main office every second week. Spokesman David Austin said that during the period Mr. Webster led the firearms centre, the government maintained two headquarters, one in Edmonton and one in Ottawa. Under former justice minister Anne McLellan, an Edmonton MP, the Justice Department had planned to consolidate the headquarters at one location in Edmonton. That was scrapped last February under a plan to stop the financial bleeding at the gun-control program. The period in question includes two months before Mr. Webster became chief executive officer, when he was the deputy director of the firearms centre, and two months after he lost the post, when he became a special adviser to the deputy minister of justice, Morris Rosenberg. Mr. Webster remained in Edmonton as a special adviser to Mr. Rosenberg, whose office is in Ottawa. Immediately following his job change on Feb. 7, Mr. Webster made three trips to Ottawa, two for three days and one for four days. Wendy Sailman, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said Mr. Webster was advising Mr. Rosenberg on changes to the firearms program that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon announced in February. Hotel costs totalled $23,923.42 during the 23-month period, while meals and incidentals came to $9,990.95. Taxis, mileage for his car and car rentals added up to $6,569.17. Each trip cost taxpayers $90 for return taxi fare between Mr. Webster's home in Edmonton and the airport south of the city. Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz, a persistent critic of the gun registry program, said the spending revelations are shocking in light of the recent scandal over former privacy commissioner George Radwanski's lavish expense accounts and travel expenditures. He said Mr. Webster spent an average of $9,100 a month in travel expenses compared to $12,000 a month spent by Mr. Radwanski. Mr. Breitkreuz dismissed Mr. Austin's claim that Mr. Webster was not commuting. "How else could you account for over $200,000 in expenses?" said the Saskatchewan MP. "No matter which way you cut it, that's a huge bill to run up. They're creating a story now to cover their behinds." Mr. Webster was the Edmonton-based chief firearms officer for Alberta before becoming deputy chief of the firearms centre. Mr. Austin refused to provide Mr. Webster's work and holiday schedule for the 23-month period and insisted he spent most of his working time in the Alberta capital. "For the record, he spent the majority of his time working in the Edmonton office," said Mr. Austin. The documents show that in May, June, July, September, October and November of 2001, Mr. Webster spent at least three weeks each month commuting to Ottawa. Each week, he would leave his Edmonton home on a Monday, Tuesday or Sunday morning and return on Thursdays and Fridays. He did the same in January, February, April, May, October and November last year. Last December, the month Auditor General Sheila Fraser released her scathing report on the costs of the registry, Mr. Webster made one trip to Ottawa, two days travelling and two at the department. Mr. Webster's living expenses were modest. He often claimed the daily allowance of $61.50 for food, and hotel rooms in Ottawa were primarily in the $120 range.
|