“Show me the money!” – See what little we know of how the legislature spends it’s money PLUS Premiers office spends double what Campbells crew did in his last year.

Posted on by Laila

While we can’t be sure where – or how – the  money is being spent in the Legislature after the disturbing revelations of Auditor General John Doyles audit, this link in the Public Accounts for the financial year ended March,2012 will give you an idea of larger sums for staff, and suppliers -both Liberal and NDP.

http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/11_12/Legislative_Assembly.pdf

Unfortunately, what it doesn’t offer is a complete breakdown on salaries under $75,000 , travel under $5,000 or supplier payments under $25,000  – all of which add up to some whopping figures with no explanations.

Clearly, I am in the wrong line of work by the looks of what some senior staffers are making in the Legislature!

However, I did note Dan Arbic,the Legislative Comptroller, was making $107,405 in salary. For those who don’t know, a comptroller is the person in management who supervises the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. While 100 grand isn’t an unrealistic salary for a comptroller, I’m not so sure he really earned any of that money, considering the auditors findings… what exactly has he been doing? Nothing, perhaps?

Another example George Macminn, Legislative clerk who refused Auditor General John Doyle access to all records back in 2007 – and is now retired – still snagged a hefty $252,560 before he left in annual salary. In the same year, he also used $ 21,241 in travel. Seems substantial to me for a legislative clerk… anyone want to guess if he had receipts or not either?

And there is more… much more.

Take a look at the credit card spending for the fiscal year ending 2012….http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/11_12/Purchasing_Card.pdf  and indeed you will find, much more…

Much more indulgence,much more alcohol, gifts, jewellery, trips and events,favours, treats, dinners,tickets….. you name it, government is paying for it… and all on the taxpayers dime.

What’s that, you ask? What is the spending like in the still unelected premiers office ? What’s Christy Clark and her inner circle been spending our money on?

(A whole lot of shredding, I noticed.)

1-800- shredding $ 728.00

Mobileshred $1155.69 $151.98( And those are only the obvious shredders…)

However, I think you will be able to tell a lot about the real agenda and values of Christy Clark when you read this:

In total,the Office of the Premier’s credit card expenditures in the fiscal year ending March 31st 2012 were…  are you ready for this?

$475,015.79  !!!

Under Christy Clark, the office of the premier has had more than a 100% increase  from the dearly departed Campbell, who in 2010/2011… spent a mere $205,139.95 in his last ( not even) year in the premiers office.

Good God!! Is this woman for real?

$475,015.79 ??   Nearly a half a million dollars for the premiers office alone? Shades of Bev Oda!!  Wine, dine, travel and more wine, trinkets and baubles and, and… phew.

Is this government even on the same planet as you and I? Take a look at the purchases in this link,http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/11_12/Purchasing_Card.pdf  and the one to Legislative expenses http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/11_12/Legislative_Assembly.pdf and ask yourself if this government is working with the best interest of the public they serve… or if they are working to serve themselves.

Christy Clark and the rest of the legislature..

Spending your hard earned dollars, one  photo opportunity/vacation/dinner/drink/bracelet at a time…

It really is all Families First in Victoria … just not yours or mine.

61 thoughts on ““Show me the money!” – See what little we know of how the legislature spends it’s money PLUS Premiers office spends double what Campbells crew did in his last year.”

  2. when my friends’ children are discussing what they should do for a career I tell them to go into politics. When they ask why, I explain the salaries, the benefits, the pensions, etc. They are all shocked. They didn’t know.

    Yes Laila you are in the wrong line of work if you wanted to make money & live a very nice lifestyle. What these politicians & their staff forgot is why they are there. They develop a sense of entitlement & truly believe they are entitled to all the purchases. They excuse it as, they can do so much more with this or that, etc. Christie crunch’s spending, I would suggest she is just like a staturday night sailor with his paycheque, except c.c. is using our money, not her own pay cheque.

    When the average lower level bureacrat travels they have a perdeim & frequently must supply receipts if they wish to be reimbursed. There simply needs to be an accounting of the money spent. There should be no use of tax payers money to purchase gifts, etc. All politicians should have a “daily” allowance when the legislature is in session & that is it. If they go over it, want to .purchase gifts, its on their own nickel. Oh & that daily allowance, should be in line with what the rest of the workers receive when they travel.

    While c.c & the herd is telling workers there isn’t money for a raise & child poverty is the highest in Canada for 8 consecutive yrs she is spending double what gordo did? Now that is some spending.

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    1. I’ll tell you what really makes my head spin. When there are thousands of kids going without treatment in this province,for a variety of disabilities, because these are “tough economic times.”
      When kids at risk, remain so, and poverty is still a massive blight on our provincial face… and the unelected premier has office expenses of 2 grand plus for dinners at Bishops, and 1300 at Artinas Jewelery, or all the BC Liquor store purchases,2 grand at BlueWater Cafe, 1500 at C Restaurant, 2200 at Cioppinos restaurant, 3200 at Ferris Oyster Bar, and on, and on… and yet we have seniors in trouble, kids crammed in classrooms STILL… not enough to go around, we hear Falcon bleating, BLEATING about how the government has tightened their belts….

      And then we see the purchase card spending… and I havent even begun going through all of it.

      She spent double in her office than Campbell did. Double!!! I hope the papers pick this up. I would love to hear her justify this spending.

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      1. Laila, people got sick from terrible emissions in BC !! Nobody, no university, no Public Health officer in bc can measure emissions from 1Hz up to 10GHz/decibel (call different universities, Ministry of Environment etc.) !!!!! We have electromagnetic ,ultrasound and infrasound emissions which cannot be measured, because the government does not have the money to buy adequate equipment to measure these emissions ! BC Hydro does not possess adequate calibrated equipment to measure electromagnetic emissions (call BC Hydro and ask ) !!! People in BC have to sell their properties because of “unknown emissions”, which are chasing them out of their homes. The police and Public Health is referring to a psychiatrist, in the case people complain about painful and deadly emissions,” which cannot be seen and therefore they cannot exist !! !”

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  3. The ‘papers’ (mainstream media) are probably amongst her (our) guests at these pig-out dinners and drunks. The lowest sleeziest slime on this planet. I’d be willing to bet this party of low lifes are all alcoholics too, ‘running’ our province. Same for the civic governments, especially in Surrey.
    The theiving just never stops.
    Jean

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    1. I do not know, but Clark has a heck of a lot of excessive dinners, travel, tickets ( BC lions, guess that was her big photo op at the big game) Grouse Mountain, Capilano Suspension bridge.. wtf ? Baubles, trinkets… the list goes on. This is thievery at it’s most excess, imo.

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  4. Thanks for digging this ‘sickening’ information out. What hypocrites – as you say, they act like hogs with absolutely no conscious, they live like kings on taxpayer money while BC maintains its abismal child poverty record. I note that George MacMinn collected over $250,000 up to March 31, 2012, yet ‘officially’ was replaced by Craig James in June, 2011. MacMinn was listed as a Clerk Consultant. Presumably that means he stuck around to coach James on how to continue the obstruction of the Auditor General and maintain the status quo culture within the Legislative Assembly. Pathetic.

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  5. Stuck around to suck up some more $$$ and pass on how to keep it all a secret no doubt. Even the legislature spending seems excess and hardly anything is reported. Absolutely appalling. No accountability. And yet, still silence on both sides from party leaders. Open, transparent government? When Christy shows who attended all those dinners, and trips, and what the jewellery and small amount booze was bought for….

    Then we might see some open government. I cant believe no reporter has yet asked her or her reps how she can claim open government with all this secrecy.

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  6. Holy crap… Finance Ministry expenditure are through the roof! And thousands spent on self improvement/career development/ achievement training… ( apparently to no avail- all this money spent and the finances are still a mess …)

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  7. Among interesting expenditures thus far: Nail salons, beauty supplies and services and wowza.. someone needs to put a lock on the Justice ministry cards !!!!
    Among the questionable purchases there:
    A stitch in time sewing school, williams lake,
    Abbotsford Tool Centre
    Alisons Embroidery, PG
    Army and Navy Dept. Store Langley
    Balanced foot Care, Kamloops
    Bashirs Auto Cosmetics Richmond
    BC Auction, province of BC ( buying their own shit back???)
    BC beauty and barber supply
    BC Shaver and Hobbies
    Beadworks – a make your own jewellery store, sells beads, wires etc… over $800 there alone
    Big Kahuna Sport company
    Blockbuster video over 300$$
    Bosleys pet food
    Brewster Antiques
    Cineplex
    animal hospital
    Commadore Lanes
    Phew… I just can’t go on…. but the spending does…. unreal. They keep saying there is no money, and now I know why!!!

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  8. I work in a large corporate office and we have an expense account,but most of this would never get by the accountant and we need receipts for everything or it comes out of our pocket.I am shocked at all of this mismanagement! Going back to your last post,I just don’t get it.The ndp mla’s clearly knew their expenses were not public,at the very least why wouldnt they want to show them?Did any of them acknowledge your post or offer an accounting?Why can’t we see this?

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  9. They keep saying there is no money, that is the absolute truth there is no money only promises to pay. So the solution is, if it is a necessity for you and not for resale or it is for the benefit of your community, to mark the Bill “Consumer Purchase” and sign it and return it as per the Bills of Exchange Act to discharge the debt rather than by adding to it.

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  10. At ICBC use of government credit cards by confidential employees resulted in being questioned thoroughly. Any personal use of the card resulted in removal and/or termination of employment. Wonder why what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander?

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  11. This needs to be front page of every big paper.Sooner than later.She makes me want to vomit when I read the list of expenditures in her office.Guess being a mom didn’t give her any sense.

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    1. Papers havn’t touched this, that I have seen yet. I sent the link out to a few places but nada yet. As Rafe would say, we need to be our own media at times, share and spread via usual manner. And motherhood and commonsense have never been linked as far as I know, unfortunately.

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      1. The MSM wont touch this with a 10ft pole unless it’s so blatant they cant ignore it.
        And even then, they will dutifully lap up what ever the (former coworkers at Global/ CBC) govt media handlers shovel out in a “news release”
        “Can you say Govt advertising revenue? or
        ” Possible overpaid cushy job as a Govt Spokesperson” .
        I knew you could.
        Which raises a question ….Where is Chris(banished back to the private sector)Olson working these days? 🙂

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  12. “$475,015.79 !!!

    Under Christy Clark, the office of the premier has had more than a 50% increase from the dearly departed Campbell, who in 2010/2011… spent a mere $205,139.95 in his last ( not even) year in the premiers office.”

    We may be behind the times here in the sticks, or maybe there is some “new math” down there in the really, really, real world – but the way we do counting stuff here the increase from Campbell to Her Holy Clarkness is approximately a 131 1/2 percent increase”, the just shy of $270 thou increase would be about a 50% increase over the nearly half mil. No use cutting the A-holes any slack!

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  13. We know what spiteful Campbell and his BC Liberals did to us, before he got the boot. He destroyed our BC hydro. He forced the stupid smart meters on us. Campbell thieved and sold, everything he got his dirty hands on. His ministers went right along with that, deceiving, corrupt monster. Campbell also gave his useless self, a $60,000 per year salary hike. Nor do we forget Harper’s part in the ruination of our province.

    Christy is intent on selling what is left of BC. Christy and her ministers outrageous spending, is fully deliberate. She will put BC in worse bankruptcy, than we are already in. Christy has the same spite all of the BC Liberals have, as Campbell did before her. Christy is going to make absolutely sure, the NDP will have nothing left what-so-ever, to save this province from total collapse. The BC Liberals are just waiting for the ink to dry, on the sale of our BC liquor stores. Evil Falcon, actually blamed the BC people for their outrageous debt. All of the money, went to pay the HST back to Harper, says Falcon. The money that Campbell and Harper thieved from the BC people, in the first place.

    As far as the media, they have always been the corrupt BC Liberals propaganda machines. I certainly hope, the BC citizens remember this when the NDP are in office. At least it looks like the NDP, will win. The media have been totally evil, in their bias against the BC citizens. The media very willingly, spread the lies of the Campbell/Clark BC Liberals. The media are a disgrace to their professions.

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    1. This should really get your goat afte reading this excess spending….lol. from earlier this year… http://www.vancouversun.com/news/year+after+becoming+premier+Christy+Clark+holds+line+spending+while+eyeing+foes+right/6201195/story.html

      “Last year, as Clark claimed the Liberal leadership, she did so with a single motto: families first.

      Now, as she struggles with sinking poll numbers and a fractured coalition on the right, Clark’s new mantra is all about money.

      “We have an inescapable economic reality that we all, I think, need to come to grips with,” she said in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday.

      “Spending more money on social programs may solve a problem in the short term but it creates a problem in the long term, because if you’re spending more than you’re bringing in, you’re killing jobs.”

      In pursuit of this restraint, Clark’s government this week unveiled a budget that put a freeze on spending across most ministries, as well as a firm cap on funding for public sector wages.

      Spending increases across government overall will be held to an average two per cent annually over the next three years, essentially tracking with the expected rate of inflation.

      “We’re going to be careful in spending money and we’re not going to keep going back to taxpayers for more money to fund more spending, despite the fact that there are going to be hundreds of people yelling and screaming that’s what we need to do.”

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  14. Hi Laila.

    I am concerned your recent illnesseS could be due to the radiation from the toxic ‘smart meters’. With all the meters in your area do you think this could be the cause? Maybe you should be checked out for radiation and do you know anyone who could check out exactly what the radiation levels are in your area? Maybe it would be a good idea to check it out with your doctor and maybe he could tell you how much you have been affected by them. I know David Chalk had a meter put on his home while he was away and he is fighting it but I haven’t heard how that is going.

    Hope you get feeling better real soon.

    Hugs, Jean

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    1. Hi Jean, no it is not from smart meters,that I can confirm without a doubt – I have been dealing with this since prior to any meters being installed in the area.No worries though,I keep soldiering on! Hugs to you too for thinking of me, you are a dear and you know I love you!

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  15. I just started going through the not premier’s expenses. WHAT THE HELL IS IN WINNIPEG that she would fly there so often? I don’t know anyone who goes to Winnipeg that much. Its not that Winnipeg is a bad place to go, but really all those times! What is in Winnipeg? Some one must have something going on there.

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  16. Winnipeg is the murder capital of Canada these days, maybe Clueless Crunchy is trying to learn their secret so BeeCee can be first in murders as well as child poverty and cost of living………………

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    1. Kootcoot I don’t think she is smart enough to go there to learn how to make some of B.C. murder capital again. That would require some effort on her part. One could consider the lack of money provided for health care , child poverty, etc. as a type of murder because it all leads to death of people. I consider deaths such as those as a type of murder. When all those people died at Burnaby General, 80 something in 2 1/2 yrs from ildeficile, that was preventable so the deaths in my mind were murder.

      All those dinners at Bishop’s. I do trust Ms. Clark can provide documentation that these meals were for government business because if they aren’t I would suggest if the RCMP won’t charge her, some one comes along & starts a private prosecution.

      I love Bishops. Its a great resturant. It is one we go to for special occasions, even when
      we had a large income.

      I just don’t know why the taxpayers were paying for her to go to Wal-Mart. Yes, there were two charges to Wal-Mart. She couldn’t just reach into her wallet & pay cash. For gods sake Wal-Mart. The leader of the lieberals is shopping in Wal-Mart. What does the government need for its business from Wal-Mart. its right up there with going to Winnipeg all those times. I know its half way to ottawa so maybe she is meeting some one there, but at my expense? Not so much.

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      1. remember, this is the premiers office purchase card spending.The whole office. Not that it makes it better, but she has staff that go everywhere with her. Also as per those charges it is not always the place the charge happened, but sometimes the companies billing address/head office that shows.

        Walmart is likely where she bought those hokey glasses of hers. Kind of remind me of something I saw Mr. Bean wearing once..lol..

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        1. all has been solved. AGT informed me this is the billing for the helijet. sure enough I checked other expense forms & yes they all had the same expense, so they aren’t al going to winnipeg. I gather that is the place they bill to for the helijet.

          I’m still very angry about the expenses though. It is so out of line it with what is happening in the province which has the highest rate of child poverty for 8 yrs. running. This is really, “let them eat cake” . Christie, marie anntoinet, clark.

          I will be writing to some mlas asking what they actually spentthe money on & for what reasons. they most likely will not respond but I think as citizens we have a duty to enquire, every last one of us. It is our money!

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  17. I’m certainly happy to hear, Christy won’t be coming back to the tax payers, and her family’s first for money. Hydro way up, heat. insurances, MSPBC, gasoline through the roof. Food cost rising every other day. A bag of frozen Chicken breasts I like for stir fries, went up nearly $3.00 from the last time I bought, perhaps two months ago. I didn’t buy the package of chicken.

    I am really sorry for the single moms, seniors and low income family’s, I can’t even imagine how they are getting by? While Christy and the rest of the Liberals, get their nails done and buy expensive liquor. More disgraceful because, of all the children who have to go to school hungry. There is no money for children who have special needs. However, $6,000 per year for just ONE minister’s fine dining, and now fine wines are added now too.

    Campbell thieved this province blind. A monster who forced poverty onto children and deprived family’s, and stuffed his wallet and his mouth full. Christy is no better. The BC Liberals are still thieving our tax dollars, for utter stupidity and waste.

    I knew I was going to get really angry, as I typed this. I guess I should have done my laundry, as I intended to do.

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    1. Just saying… look what happened back east after a forensic audit…. http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/118740-lawyer-pleads-not-guilty-for-mla-zinck

      The only sitting MLA charged in the province’s expense scandal chose not to be present for his arraignment Thursday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax.

      Defence lawyer Lyle Howe entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Dartmouth North MLA Trevor Zinck, who’s accused of theft over $5,000, fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust.

      Dates for Zinck’s judge-alone trial will be set Sept. 6, when the case returns to court.

      Lawyers will meet with a judge behind closed doors Aug. 31 for a pretrial conference, designed to narrow the issues and determine how many days will be needed for the trial.

      Zinck, an Independent who used to be a New Democrat, was committed to stand trial following a preliminary inquiry in Halifax provincial court last month.

      Outside court Thursday, Howe said it’s too early to say how long the trial will be.

      “I’m not going to venture a guess right now,” Howe told reporters. “I want to sit down and do up my pretrial memorandum and discuss it with the Crown.”

      The lawyer said he isn’t privy to the Supreme Court’s schedule but wouldn’t be surprised if the trial isn’t held until next summer.

      When asked how his client is feeling, Howe responded, “He stands by his innocence and he’s confident moving forward.”

      Crown attorney Andrew Macdonald said he and Howe don’t have any agreements in place yet that would reduce the number of witnesses to be called at trial.

      “I’m hoping that after our pretrial conference, we will have a better idea of what it’s going to take to take this matter to trial,” Macdonald said.

      A forensic investigation into MLAs’ expenses by auditor general Jacques Lapointe led RCMP to lay charges against Zinck and three former politicians in February 2011.

      Ex-Liberal MLA Dave Wilson, who represented Glace Bay, pleaded guilty last September in Sydney provincial court to uttering forged documents, fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust.

      Wilson submitted more than $61,000 in fraudulent expense claims to feed a gambling addiction. He was sentenced in April to nine months in jail, followed by 18 months’ probation.

      Richard Hurlburt, a former cabinet minister who represented Yarmouth as a Progressive Conservative, pleaded guilty in April to fraud over $5,000 and breach of trust. He turned in phoney invoices for more than $25,000 in expense claims and will be sentenced July 27 in Supreme Court in Yarmouth.

      Russell MacKinnon, former Liberal and Independent MLA for Cape Breton West, has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of uttering a forged document, one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of breach of trust. He’s scheduled to stand trial before a Supreme Court judge alone next March in Halifax.
      (sbruce@herald.ca)

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  19. What about all those “Facebook” purchases listed under the Ministry for Labour, Citizens Services and Open Government – over 100 purchases totalling more than $5,000? Is someone playing Farmville??

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    1. I am betting those are government ads placed on facebook… and I have seen many on there. Could be wrong but they do place ads on facebook for a variety of things.

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  20. Looks like the BC Liberal Cabinet Ministers are competing to see who can spend the most of our money. Click on Energy and Mines: $737,382.29. Or Finance: $2,398,584.55. How about Environment: $3,9220,304.09?

    Airlines, restaurants, and hotels seem to be the most popular places to spend our money. (BTW, isn’t Air Canada’s head office in Winnipeg?) And why are we buying their groceries? Thrifty’s and Save On Foods transactions come up quite frequently.

    I had to stop reading their expenses……..they were making me sick to my stomach. How are we ever going to turn this corrupt system of government around?

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    1. How to turn it around? #1 item to begin with, do not let this issue go. Write to John Doyle the auditor General with anything you find in this billing that looks completely out of line, or if you want to know more info. I, and others, have found him to be very forthcoming and helpful, and he often places items sent to him on current or future work projects.

      #2 – write letters to your local editors with links to stories like this, or with the information it contains. Share, facebook, twitter and send to friends and colleagues

      #3- hold them accountable and VOTE VOTE VOTE in the next election. NOT VOTING is the stupidest thing anyone could do and is a vote that might actually let your local leech stay in office for another term. And yes, every vote does actually count. Before voting, actually go and meet the candidates from every party and ask them questions. Inform yourself… vote vote vote… some people die to get this right in modern times.. I hate that we here in western society are so effing complacent about it and think with-holding a vote is actually a vote in itself. It’s not. It’s why we have Harper again….

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  22. As to the Laila’s comment from her Post above “Spending your hard earned dollars, one photo opportunity/vacation/dinner/drink/bracelet at a time…”, all one needs to do, is to go to Christy Clark’s promise, under Oath, during her Swearing-in on March 14, 2011, where she said: “The reduced size of the Cabinet reflects a renewed commitment to being respectful to British Columbians by being frugal with the hard-earned tax dollars that they provide to government.” – CC. Guess what, her Cabinet is actually larger than Campbell’s. http://blogborgcollective.blogspot.ca/2012/04/christy-clarks-cabinet-committees-isnt.html

    “frugal speech” is here: http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs/338638/2011/03_Mar14_Premiers_swearing_in_speech.pdf

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    1. Christy wouldn’t know frugal if it hit her on the side of the head. Frugal is not lavish dinners out. I am going through this thing with a fine tooth comb. I do not believe this can continue any longer, even if some of these other ministerial expenses passed muster with someone else paying the bills. This excess and thoughtless spending must stop in government if they expect us to listen to anything they preach about.

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  23. What really caught my curiosity is the: US Bank National Association ……………… 1,956,123.
    what the hell is that about?
    the rest of it is unbelievable.. well, believable.. but still. OMFG can we not fire this person and her bloated entourage ??

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  24. And Safeway down in South Surrey sure seems to get alot of business from Kevie. Must be some pretty good bbq’s and dinners happening at the Falcon residence.
    I keep saying, can things get any worse? Well, yeah, it’s not over yet. With Stevie and Co. back east.I feel sorry for the low income people, and pretty well any person in this province slugging it out every day at their jobs just to stay afloat, if they’re lucky. Debt is more like it. Seniors. And the spike in shoplifting. It’s no wonder when you see where prices have gone just in the past 10 years. What are they going to do, put them all in jail? I’ve heard comment some people in desperation want to go, 3 meals a day and a warm bed and roof over their head. Pretty disgusting when you see what our fine politicians spend “our” money on.
    We know who should be behind bars, don’t we? It is time the police get serious about these fraudulent expenditures by politicians, senior bureaucrats, company execs, imo. And it is time for the courts to get serious as well.
    And Revenue Canada should also have a look at individuals “benefits” claimed (or not).

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    1. I am hearing that many people are really, terribly shocked by all of this spending. I think most people never look at what gets spent in government beyond what we hear for large budgets. They dont think about the business trips, the conferences, the entertaining that goes on in hopes of snagging contracts and trade deals…

      Stay tuned for my followup later on. This isn’t over yet.

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  25. Your Source, of course is http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/11_12/Legislative_Assembly.pdf

    A general look to the SOURCE of your source came from this directory of the Office of the Comptroller General:
    http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/ocg/pa/11_12/pa11_12.htm

    What is bizarre is that four results below the Heading of “Legislative Assembly” is “Executive”, Executive Compensation, which doesn’t go directly to its source, but it does go to “Public Sector Employer’s Council”, but eventually it is for real, off to the left side bar there they sit … and if you keep digging deeper you come across “Crown Corporations and Agencies”….. including Community Living British Columbia along with BC Oil and Gas and many others. http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/psec/disclosure/disclosure11-12.htm#crowns

    Some levels dead end, and require security clearances, ….. the pay must be pretty damn obnoxious

    At the bottom of the heap, way below, is the BC Liquor Distribution Branch where the file contains the payouts for the BCLDB Executive, one is close to a Quarter of a Million Dollars per year. Cheers!

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    1. Pretty sad Grumps, I don’t even clear one of their “benefit” packages never mind coming close to the “incentive” pay.
      My take home for 2011-2012 was $9,140.
      Somehow (due mostly to gracious friends) I’m able to manage, but I wouldn’t even know what to do with 140k/year. I really wouldn’t know how to spend that (once I took care of housing, clothing, food) as everything else is just obtuse (obese?).
      They say we have to pay good money to get good people, yet I’m still waiting for the “good” people to show up, all we got now are a bunch of paper-pushing thieves who use distraction, deflection and the age old ” I don’t know ” to justify their pays, bonuses and incentives and perks and benefits and… omg… how has this gone on for so long without ANYONE in position of “authority” to not ask questions??

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  26. Laila! Bill Good talking about this story in one minute on NW! Congratulations but they havent mentioned you broke it once,which is sad.

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    1. Listening now.. a rare moment. Just heard Philip Till’s segment questioning Morton this morning.. Way to go Philip! I love it. Norm Spector on now… and yes, we are taking a fine tooth comb.. in all ministries. Good is going on a defence…lol.. that when wining and dining dignitaries, we don’t take them to the regular coffee shops, do we?..

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  27. […] but if you want to see the real meal deal on the expenses, head over to the original story here: https://lailayuile.com/2012/07/30/show-me-the-money-seehow-what-little-we-know-of-the-legislature-spe… Share this:DiggMoreEmailFacebookPrintRedditTwitterStumbleUponLike this:LikeBe the first to like […]

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  29. I was just browsing through a few of the various ministries – here’s one I can’t get over – thousands of dollars at 7-11 stores for Children and Family Development. In one store alone, in New Westminster, they spent $15, 436 in 24 transactions, which works out to an average of $643/transaction. Who spends over $600 at a time at 7-11???? That’s an awful lot of slurpees! Seriously, are they buying groceries for needy families? If so, why at 7-11, particularly somewhere like New Westminster where there are other, more economical grocery stores around?

    I can’t believe the mis-management and lack of accountability…

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    1. Jeanine, this is really alarming in appearance and I would love to know what those charges were for.. lottery tickets? Phone Cards? Candy? Cigarettes? The optics aren’t good and because credit card spending was not touched in the Auditor Generals recent report, we don’t know what is valid or not. I again call for a full forensic audit and investigation on each card, it’s holder and balancing against receipts or documentation. MLA or government employee, it doesnt matter who does the spending, it needs to be accounted for and only for the benefit to government.

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  30. Couple other interesting financial postings or “acquirements” for their ability to “govern”;

    (a) FAIRMONT WATERFRONT 2(transactions) $0.00(totaling) VANCOUVER BC
    WTH? 0$ for 2 transactions?

    (b) APL*APPLE ITUNES STORE 24(transactions) $589.70(totaling) 800-676-2775 ON
    Can’t do “canned” (radio) music like the rest of us?

    (c) SEAPORTA 1 ($360.11) <–is in "red" type, is that a credit? PORTLAND OR

    (d) THE UMBRELLA SHOP 1(transactions) $201.60 VANCOUVER BC
    A $200 umbrella? WTF? For real??

    (e) TM -BC LIONS FOOTBALL 1(transactions) $3,110.00 TORONTO ON
    Glad they support our football team, but do the taxpayers REALLY have to pay for this??

    (f) STARBUCKS COFF00045450 1(transactions) $9.63 VICTORIA BC
    Ok, it's ONLY $9.63, but really, why are we paying for these types of transactions? Wouldn't that come under a "personal" expense and not a taxpayer expense?

    All the shredding, the planes and helijets hither and yon. What happened to teleconferencing?
    All the "wining and dining" at the taxpayers expense MUST STOP. IMMEDIATELY.
    If Clark wants to "entertain" some visiting "dignitary" (they shouldn't be counted as such if they're from same province/country either) and it's so important to the future of our province, why can't she pay for it herself and then go about securing the money back (like the rest of us do, that helps keep a rein on over-spending)?

    Time to take their credit cards away, they've proven themselves fully irresponsible to handle such "freedoms" and give them a basic budget, anything else above that (or not "covered") then they have to pay out of their own paycheck and apply for reimbursement as the rest of us "peons" must do in order to keep the accounting straight.
    Plus an immediate overhaul to the pay system that would be retroactive of this year, that would see our highly paid incompetents "tithe" 10% of their pay towards the systems sorely in need, such as health-care, child welfare, housing and food for struggling families and disabled.

    Checks and balances. They got the "cheques" part down.. now how about some balance.

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  31. I think it is important, as I mentioned in my new post, to remember that this is not only MLA spending on these cards, but government and ministry employees, which speaks to that atmosphere of entitlement I speak about as well, in the new post.

    Unfortunately for us, Dix isnt calling for heads to roll.

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  32. Something else that really irked me was. Bev Oda has over $50,000 for her pension. She steals our tax dollars, for her own luxury. Mind you. Flaherty and MacKay do really great on, luxurious hotel suites as well. Harper and his Conservatives really are, far too irresponsible to be trusted with money. Harper started out, with a $13 billion dollar surplus. Canada is now in the worst debt, we have ever known.

    Falcon had his gall to blame the BC citizens, for their whine of no money. He said, all the money went to pay Harper back for the HST, we were cheated out of in the first place. Where is the HST trickle down money to BC people, from big business promised by Campbel? I wonder, did Falcon look at the BC Liberals expenses? What about, the stupid smart meters? What about the Olympic debt, that was hid and whited out? I think there is hidden debt, we don’t even know about.

    I agree. Take politicians government credit cars away from them. They are greedy little children, who must not have such things.

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  33. In a Cassidy Oliver story today in the Province (he must have read your Post here Laila) he quotes Christy Clark’s Press secretary, Mike Morton, as saying “the really big expense was the premier hosted the Council of the Federation, and there were significant expenses to that”

    It was a two day event! Mike! January 16th and 17th http://www.councilofthefederation.ca/meetings/meetings2012.html

    But going back to Christy’s Travel expenses, for January, she had $845.70 of “In Province” traveling; a credit of $63.35 for “In Province”; “OUT OF COUNTRY” travel expense of $13,607.93 and a Credit of 107.10 for OUT of COUNTRY travel expenses.

    Do you want to play it again Mike?

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    1. North Van’s site is a must read on the Liberal manner of accounting… North Van,what tag do you use for this kind of accounting, so readers and reporters can find this easily??

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      1. Glad North Van is good with the math, the numbers all start jumbling together after a few moments and gives me a headache.
        Worse than the headache is the heartache of knowing that there are children and families, elderly and disabled PEOPLE who are suffering daily so these “fat cats” (other words came to mind but I don’t think I can post it with respect to politeness for other readers) can pretend to play politics.
        I say pretend because they aren’t doing anything for real except taking our money and living it high on the hog to impress .. someone, but it sure the hell ain’t us taxpayers.

        And, for every day these politicians stall and wait, sit on their hands or bite their tongues (to spite their faces) is another day many suffer needlessly.
        They have to stop seeing numbers and start seeing the people, or they’re about as useful to us as teats to a boar.

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        1. The incompetence, the gross injustice of these .. politicians and their bloated pay, benefits, perks, compensation, platinum retirement packages, all for rewarding their lack of work, their inexperience and blatant greed has brought this country to it’s knees.
          We need reform NOW, not 3 years from now.

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  36. Just read this…

    Hope Danny boy held on to some of that $107K…he’s going to need it in the unemployment line.

    I can tell you first hand the amount of shredding that goes on in the hours immediately following a government session is astounding. There are garbage bags full of shredded docs lining the hallways…piled 4-5 feet high.

    And the amount of alcohol consumed in the building is something else.

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