PMO staff's six figure moves

[DogOnPorch]

The only reason they're paying is that they were caught. Period-amundo.

[PIK]

And how many times has that happened in the last 10 months. They could not even go a yr without ripping off the tax payer.

[DogOnPorch]

And how many times has that happened in the last 10 months. They could not even go a yr without ripping off the tax payer.

The hogs are jockeying for best spot at the trough. It's the reward for an election well won...apparently.

[?Impact]

The hogs are jockeying for best spot at the trough. It's the reward for an election well won...apparently.

Yes, they heard that the trough got a lot bigger (several hundred thousand dollars at a sitting) in the past decade, thank to the likes of Wallin and other Harper appointees.

Edited September 23, 2016 by ?Impact

[DogOnPorch]

Yes, they heard that the trough got a lot bigger (several hundred thousand dollars at a sitting) in the past decade, thank to the likes of Wallin and other Harper appointees.

I'm not a Tory. Yer all hogs to moi.

[?Impact]

I'm not a Tory. Yer all hogs to moi.

I'm not a Grit.

[DogOnPorch]

NDP, Tory, Green, Liberal can all do the hot cha-cha off the end of a pier.

[poochy]

Yes, they heard that the trough got a lot bigger (several hundred thousand dollars at a sitting) in the past decade, thank to the likes of Wallin and other Harper appointees.

You give basicaly the same answer every time this very new government screws up, it's infantile, it's boring, it's pathetic. Fyi, of the senate frauds, the worse by far was a liberal, or that Harper refused to approve Duffy's expenses, unlike Trudeau in this case, you forgot to mention that, but of course you're a hack, you aren't here to be serious.

Also, it seems that in 10 years the conservative PMO approved 325k for moves, Trudeau approved 220k for only his two best and most important, litterally coudn't function without advisors, at least one of whom only moved 4 hours down the road. Do the math, and now a couple staffers in DIon's office are repaying tens of thousands as well, they must have heard they were next to be named.

If you were capable of it, you would feel nothing but embarassment for trying to defend this.

[Bob Macadoo]

Also, it seems that in 10 years the conservative PMO approved 325k for moves....

Hmmmm seems there was a one-time payment of 90k $ to a Tory PMO staffer for moving. We should go find them and shame them into repaying.

[?Impact]

Also, it seems that in 10 years the conservative PMO approved 325k for moves, Trudeau approved 220k for only his two best and most important,

When a new government moves into the PMO, that is when most of the advisors will tag along; the 10 years is irrelevant. With the $41k returned, it is now $180k or about half what Harper spent.

Hmmmm seems there was a one-time payment of 90k $ to a Tory PMO staffer for moving.

Yes, $93,131.93. The assumption is it was to Guy Giorno, Harper's chief of staff, but that has not been confirmed.

[Moonlight Graham]

I don't want the type of people who would gladly accept those kinds of sky-high reimbursements helping to the run the PMO. I think they should be told to leave, by voters. I want the type of person who would say "Justin this is wrong, we need to change the rules".

[Smoke]

Yes, they heard that the trough got a lot bigger (several hundred thousand dollars at a sitting) in the past decade, thank to the likes of Wallin and other Harper appointees.

But Harper, but Harper....

[capricorn]

Two got caught, now two more come forward before they got found out by inquisitive medial.

Chiefs of staff for two Liberal cabinet ministers are paying back almost $55,000 of the generous expenses they claimed for relocating to Ottawa, following the lead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top two aides.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion's chief of staff, Julian Ovens, is in the process of reimbursing $32,130 of the $119,825 he claimed for moving expenses.

And Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains' chief of staff, Elder Marques, is giving back $22,467 of the $103,997 that he claimed.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/more-liberals-repay-expense-claims-following-lead-of-pm-s-aides-1.3086401

Keep em' coming. At this rate, we might raise enough money to pay off part of the deficit.

[eyeball]

Did they?

We have no details.

Why not? I'm pretty sure I recall you defending Harper's Accountability Act when other people doubted it.

Shouldn't it be even odder to you that we don't have any details than what the details are?

[kimmy]

Yes, they heard that the trough got a lot bigger (several hundred thousand dollars at a sitting) in the past decade, thank to the likes of Wallin and other Harper appointees.

But Harper, but Harper....

Indeed.

Getting pretty tired of people trying to deflect criticism of Justin Trudeau by trying to point out something Harper did that may have been similar, because

1) a big part of Justin's spiel is that he is supposed to be different/better/more honorable than Harper

2) not everybody you're responding to is necessarily a Harper supporter in the first place.

-k

[?Impact]

Getting pretty tired of people trying to deflect criticism of Justin Trudeau

I am not deflecting, go back and see that I actually criticized these expenses. What I am simply pointing out is that these are not the highest expenses, the highest was under Harper, over $8,000 higher for a single move. During his tenure expenses were over twice that what was incurred under Trudeau. Yes, he was in office longer but governments moving in is when most of the relocation expenses are incurred. The rules should have been changed long ago, but Harper hid it and now his little MPs are bitching and crying without realizing they were worse offenders.

[cybercoma]

The new liberal trick ,steal till you get caught then just pay it back, and the sheep will be happy.

First of all, you consistently mix up liberal and Liberal.

Grammar issues aside, how the hell is this a new Liberal trick? Do you want a list of the times it happened with the Conservatives?

[poochy]

I am not deflecting, go back and see that I actually criticized these expenses. What I am simply pointing out is that these are not the highest expenses, the highest was under Harper, over $8,000 higher for a single move. During his tenure expenses were over twice that what was incurred under Trudeau. Yes, he was in office longer but governments moving in is when most of the relocation expenses are incurred. The rules should have been changed long ago, but Harper hid it and now his little MPs are bitching and crying without realizing they were worse offenders.

He was in office longer? yea, TEN TIMES longer, and the highest moving expenses I've seen so far belonged to Butts, go ahead and provide us with info that proves otherwise, 325k in ten years for all PMO staff vs 220k for two, in the first year, now staff in Dion's office are paying some back as well. what did the conservatives hide, the information has been released, again, you seem to have the real truth, so provide it. Here's the thing you don't seem to be able to understand, any defense of this is deflecting. What is the percentage of posts that you make that mention Harper? It's pathetic, on top of all of that, these guys, lead by Mr sunny ways were supposed to be better than the evil empire government you're still so hung up on, and these guys are worse.

All you do is deflect.

Edited September 24, 2016 by poochy

[The_Squid]

There are 3 kinds of people on this forum wth respect to this controversy:

People who say "Harper did it and was just as bad". These people are deflecting.

People who say "This is wrong, the rules need to be changed and we should have criticized Harper too because the PMO then was also doing it". (This is me)

People who say "You're deflecting. This is a Liberal scam. Harper was never this bad". These people are hypocrites who would never be critical of "their guy". Conservative hacks.

Maybe a 4th kind.... "Both did it. It's within the rules". Nothing to see here".

[?Impact]

He was in office longer? yea, TEN TIMES longer

How many times does this have to be explained to you. The government does the vast majority of its relocation moves during the first month they are in office. Ten times longer is totally, 100%, completely, irrelevant. If you want to make a comparison, then do it at the end of the term and stop this nonsense.

b.t.w., after the money returned the actual amount is $155k. Will the Conservatives return the extra money they stole, or will it still be $325k?

Harper increased the budget for the PMO by several fold, and there were many repeated attempts to have it broken down. He refused again and again. That is what the Conservatives have hidden.

All you do is ignore the truth. Why? You accuse me of deflecting, but you totally ignore the truth and repeat the same lies over and over again. Repetition does not change the truth. I have multiple times said this was wrong, what do I have to do to get you to hear that?

[msj]

Found out why I'm so meh over this.

Talking to my parents today about this and as they explained to me:

The year is 1978. My father, a controller of a forestry company is transferred from buttf^ck north Vancouver Island to Vancouver.

So, the company agrees to pay all moving costs.

Oh, and pay $25,000 for their house which, being in a logging camp, was near worthless, was a pretty good deal (that's $86,000 in 2016).

I can only imagine what the deal would have been had he been an executive rather than just an accountant.

[cybercoma]

Home Depot pays moving costs for assistant store managers. It's pretty standard for companies to pay employees' moving costs, especially the further up the chain you go. I'd expect the government to cover some costs. Hundreds of thousands of dollars though? Seems excessive but I still haven't seen a break down.

[msj]

I no longer have the link available but I recall Butts had something like $20,400 ish in land transfer tax alone.

I think my only complaint was with the items that were not broken down as "personal" and which were over $20,000 each for Butts and Telford.

That's BS until a further breakdown is given.

Of course, as a tax accountant I do see several moving costs each year for people who deduct them on their tax returns so I do have an idea of what real estate commissions and land transfer taxes cost hence my continued "meh" at this.

Unless you see this stuff I think most people have no idea how high theses costs can run.

[cybercoma]

$20k is still only 10% of the $200k figure I keep seeing.

[Smallc]

$20k is still only 10% of the $200k figure I keep seeing.

That was for 5 people - most of which went to two people. I don't like it, and if this was within the rules the rules need to be changed.