Government Officials Take Tax Payers for a Ride

Peter Mackay came under fire again this week as his hotel spending came to light and it isn’t pretty.  Mackay wasn’t alone, information has surfaced that a bureaucrat in charge of managing Aboriginal finances has been taking tax payers for a ride as well.

In a report that analyzed his hotel spending, it is estimated that Canadians have paid his more than $10,000 bill for a trip to Turkey and Germany in February 2010 for informal NATO talks and a security conference.

 

Among these costs, Mackay’s hotel tastes come to light. for the informal meeting, Mackay and his staff stayed at the Ceylan International Hotel and his per-night cost for his room was $770; meanwhile his staff stayed in a room costing $276 per night.

 

At the security conference in Munich, Mackay stayed at the Bayerischer Hof at a cost of $1452 per night and his staff stayed at the Munich Park Hilton for $239 per night.

 

Meanwhile, the Aboriginal Affairs department made an audit to find that a bureaucrat from the Northwest Territories charged more than $40,000  to government credit cards for a Vegas vacation, pricey pizza dinners and an online game where users can spend real money in a virtual world.

A breakdown of this spending reveals that:

• $4,000 was spent on a game called Second Life
• $2,000 at a Vegas trip with her husband in February 2010 for 5 nights at the Circus Circus Hotel and casino
• $100 for a pizza
• $27 for a book on how to use Microsoft Office Power Point
• Used the credit cards at Walmart, Northern Fancy Meats, and Staples

 

The woman got caught, was demoted to a non-manager job with no access to money, and is now going through the painful squeeze for taking tax payers on a ride for using their money to fund her lifestyle. I wonder how many other bureaucrats are out there like her, hidden in Canada’s Access to Information Act. I wonder how many get away with it. All the while, the Aboriginal Affairs ministry has yet to answer questions on the matter.

 

So, why do we pay these taxes? So that Peter Mackay and fellow public servants can spend public money on luxury sweets, games and vacations and whatever else they want?