Earlier reports cited the auditing costs to be closer to $360,000; however the total cost for financial services, reviews and reconciliation was significantly more.

Summary Table from CTF Access to Information Request

Cross-Posted at Taxpayer.com

• $10,300 on a 2008 trip to Dublin and Copenhagen

• $8,893 squandered on airfare alone for a 2008 trip to Malaysia

• $8,323 blown on a 2007 trip to Geneva

• $7,140 minimum on a 2008 trip Vienna, of which the actual figures are not yet released

Canada’s chief censorship bureaucrat Jennifer Lynch has been busted by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) for wasting taxpayers’ money on expensive flights to international meetings of arguably little, none, or even negative value.

Using Access to Information & Privacy (ATIP) requests, the CTF has learned that Chief Commissar Lynch spent $8,323 on accommodations, meals and a business class flight for a junket to Geneva, Switzerland in 2007. The purpose of this was to meet with the likes of “human rights” officials from Algeria and Morocco as well as the Asia Pacific Forum, which is an umbrella organization that includes the likes of Jordan & Palestine.

In 2008, Lynch made another trip to Geneva at the cost of $8,083 for her business class airfare alone. Including her other costs, that trip cost more than $10,400. The purpose of her trip in this instance was a committee meeting linked to the UN “Human Rights” Council, which includes: Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cuba, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and most importantly, Saudi Arabia. One must wonder why Canada would spend its money on and lend its reputation to a body made up of some of the world’s worse human rights violators.

If these countries have anything to learn from Lynch, it is only how to subvert human rights with more tact and subtly than their own traditional methods (guns and ropes).

Lynch had a busy year of meeting with other human rights defenders in 2008 however; also traveling to Kuala Lampur, Malaysia with a business class airfare of $8,893, plus all other expenses. This confab was hosted by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, which is a part of a government that – according to the US State Department – restricts freedoms of the press, speech and religion, including “barring Muslims born into Islam from to converting to another religion,” allowing religious courts to enforce apostasy cases under Shariah law. This country’s human rights example was on display just this summer when a woman was convicted by an Islamic Shariah court in Malaysia for drinking a beer, sentencing her to “six beatings by cane”.

But that’s little more than a transparent application of the same law that she used to prosecute Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn.

In what was an ironic travel destination, Commissar Lynch traveled to Dublin, Ireland and Copenhagen, Denmark at the cost of $8,087 for her airfare (business class), totalling more than $10,300 after expenses. For those who need their memories jogged, Denmark is where a set of innocent cartoons were originally produced and printed that sparked world-wide riots by religious extremists. Joining the extremists in calling for the prosecution of any who dare reprint them, “Human Rights” Commissions in Canada attempted to censor Ezra Levant, who had them printed in the magazine for which he was editor.

The information (above) did not come easily to CTF researches however; as the Canadian “Human Rights” Commission stalled, blocked and dodged its several ATIP requests beyond the regular legal bounds. By law, government entities must provide the information within 30 days of the request being filed. Lynch and her gang only coughed it up after 51 days, but not without trying to put it off even longer, complaining that providing the information on time would “unreasonably interfere” with their operations. To date, an ATIP request filed in August for a Lynch flight to Vienna – for which Proactive Disclosures indicate she spent a minimum of $7,140 on airfare alone – has yet to be released.

Sizable inconsistencies were found in the costs of two of Lynch’s flights provided to the public through Proactive Disclosures, and the actual costs of the flight as discovered through Access to Information Requests.

With the cooperation of some officials, the CTF was able to confirm that much of the inconsistencies in this reporting – at times over to $3,000 difference – were due to Lynch only posting the Canadian portion of what was paid for her tickets, omitting the total cost. The difference in total cost was largely made up of reimbursements from international organizations that Canadians taxpayers fund, thereby allowing Lynch to only post the direct cost to the Canadian taxpayer and fly under the radar. That is until the CTF began to snoop.

Canadian taxpayers should be up in arms over any bureaucrat spending this kind of money and playing tricks – however legal – to minimize what the public sees in costs. That it is being done by bureaucrats that censor Canadians and feel the need to meet with tyrannical regimes for international confabs is even more outrageous. If the federal government is serious about curtailing its record deficits that have now pushed our national debt over the $500 billion mark, grounding censorship bureaucrats like Lynch would be a great place to start.

NFB Commissioner and Chairperson Tom Perlmutter has been globetrotting on the taxpayers’ dime, and not doing so cheaply.

• Monsieur Perlmutter flew to Tokyo, Japan in October 2008 for a chat-fest with that country’s equivalent of the CBC.  Not including hotels, food or any other expenses, the bill for his business class flight alone came to a staggering $11,024.37.

• In February 2008, Perlmutter spent $8,059.82 on a flight to Sao Paulo to meet with Brazil’s Department of Culture and attend the “Cultural Corporation Program Conference”.  While Sao Paulo might be a great party city, taxpayers should not be jumping for joy.

• In May 2009, Commissioner Perlmutter took a trip with his wife to the French Riviera for the Cannes Film Festival where he spent an astronomical $4,997.61 on 12 nights of hotels and $524.24 on one particularly tasty meal, coming in at $131.06 for every person at dinner that night.  That Monsieur Perlmutter decided to book a studio apartment for the full 12 nights of the festival raised eyebrows to begin with, but questions come to mind as to why it was necessary for he and his wife to book a studio apartment at 416.47 per night, when he stayed for “only” 6.  Even if taxpayers can believe that the studio for Monsieur & Madame Perlmutter were worth 416.47 per night to begin with, the $2,498.81 spent on an empty hotel room for 6 nights is a bit much.

The usefulness of having film bureaucrats fly around the world is an issue unto itself, but doing so with such pizzazz leaves taxpayers feeling as though they just joined the Mile High Club in a rather unpleasant way.

Cross-Posted at taxpayer.com/blog

$57,000/Year Golden Handshake for Senator Joan Cook

While Liberal Senator Joan Cook celebrated her 75^th birthday, taxpayers were mourning that they are on the hook for her $57,000/year pension according to calculations by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).  Constitutionally forced to retire on her October 6^th birthday, the Senator will no longer have to carry the burden of writing our laws for which she was so legitimately chosen.

Should the good Senator live to the age of 85, grateful taxpayers will have doled out at least $593,000 in pension money for her service to the dominion.

Senator Cook was appointed on the advice of Jean Chrétien in March 1998, serving 11 years and holding several minor positions for which she was additionally paid.  The CTF calculated Cook’s pension based on an accrual of 4% for each year of service (nearly 11) multiplied by the average of her five most profitable years ($130,600), adjusted each year for scheduled increases.

But as Senator Cook blows out the candles, collects her birthday money and takes her last steps out of the Red Chamber, a shift is taking place.  Her retirement signals the Liberal Party losing its “official” majority in the Senate; creating a rare moment of “minority” balance of power (the Liberals still have the most seats).

While the prospect of undemocratic, reform-blocking Senators taking their leave is welcome news, it comes with a hefty price tag.

From the taxpayers of Canada, happy birthday Joan.

Cross Posted at taxpayer.com/blog