Government considering severance package for Dingwall

[mrmom2]

OTTAWA (CP) - David Dingwal, who resigned as head of the Royal Canadian Mint amid controversy, is now being considered for a federal severance package.

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The government said it is considering a financial settlement for Dingwall, who stepped down Wednesday after allegations of lavish spending and questionable lobbying practices. "This is not unusual. The details of this are being worked out - no decision has been made," Revenue Minister John McCallum said Thursday.

He said privacy-law issues prevented him from discussing potential details of Dingwall's severance pay.

"All I can say is that anything he might receive in that regard is standard for a person in his situation . . . It would be in line with general practice of the government for situations of this kind. . ."

Dingwall quit after it was reported that he and top aides racked up expenses of more than $740,000 last year for everything from a BMW car allowance to a $1.29 pack of gum.

He has also been under fire for acting as an unregistered lobbyist - agreeing to accept $350,000 to help a pharmaceutical company secure grants under Technology Partnerships Canada. The law forbids lobbying for grants under that program

Isn't it nice you get to fleece the taxpayer and get a golden handshake :evil: The Libs are so corupt its not funny .Our system of goverment has been highjacked by an organized crime :x syndicate

 

[Jo Canadian]

 

[Kellen]

OTTAWA (CP) - David Dingwal, who resigned as head of the Royal Canadian Mint amid controversy, is now being considered for a federal severance package.

ADVERTISEMENT


The government said it is considering a financial settlement for Dingwall, who stepped down Wednesday after allegations of lavish spending and questionable lobbying practices. "This is not unusual. The details of this are being worked out - no decision has been made," Revenue Minister John McCallum said Thursday.

He said privacy-law issues prevented him from discussing potential details of Dingwall's severance pay.

"All I can say is that anything he might receive in that regard is standard for a person in his situation . . . It would be in line with general practice of the government for situations of this kind. . ."

Dingwall quit after it was reported that he and top aides racked up expenses of more than $740,000 last year for everything from a BMW car allowance to a $1.29 pack of gum.

He has also been under fire for acting as an unregistered lobbyist - agreeing to accept $350,000 to help a pharmaceutical company secure grants under Technology Partnerships Canada. The law forbids lobbying for grants under that program

Isn't it nice you get to fleece the taxpayer and get a golden handshake :evil: The Libs are so corupt its not funny .Our system of goverment has been highjacked by an organized crime :x syndicate

Not to mention this guy was one of the architects of the sponsorship program. Fortunately they've dropped the severance thing...no doubt because of all the criticism.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Government considerin

Separation pay, even if you quit, is a fairly standard corporate practice. That is especially true when it comes to executives, who tend to snag a golden parachute no matter under what circumstances they leave.

For those who work for a living this seems really bizarre because we can't even get pogey if we quit, but that's the way it is in the world of suits and ties.

The Liberals corporate background is showing here. The Conservatives, who have pretty much the same background, are being hypocritical with their criticisms. If he was their patronage appointment, they'd be doing the same thing. I seem to remember the Liberals going after Mulroney for much the same kind of thing in the past, so they were hypocritical then and are just stupid for not changing things.

This whole thing has me asking a lot of questions. $740,000 may not be much in expenses, depending on whether they were justified or not. Even the car allowance for the BMW isn't really excessive for somebody at Dingwall's level, at least if compared to people working in the private sector. Personally, I'd make him ride the bus, but that's just me.

What I've been hearing mentioned most often is that Dingwall put a pack of gum on his expense account. If his biggest transgression is being a cheap bastard I have wonder why the hell we'd care. If any of us had an expense account that allowed us to spend like that, we would. I really want to see the results of an independent audit before I decide whether Dingwall acted crookedly or not.

What this really brings up is what the hell government policies are. Should they be following the same guidelines that corporations follow, especially with patronage appointments? Why can't make these bastards sign a paper saying that they be given a package when they leave and won't sue for severance? Why aren't we putting these guys in smart cars or making them ride scooters or something?

Why do we still allow patronage appointments at all? I've never seen a government, federal or provincial, that doesn't use patronage appointments to reward its buddies, so all parties are guilty of it, but why is it allowed at all? The general electorate has been complaining about patronage since the first king of the cavemen allowed his son-in-law to lead the hunt, why hasn't somebody changed it by now?

The lobbying thing is a joke. The man broke the law, but it has been two years, so he will get away with it. Who the hell made that little clause up? It had to be somebody in government and anybody who knows anything about government knows that two years is about enough time for whoever is supposed to be investigating to get a cup of coffee. Again, the Conservatives are as bad as the Liberals when it comes to this sort of thing.

Same with the jet thing. Hey, maybe they do need to fly around in those jets. They could be filling the seats with standby passengers to help offset the costs though. Let Martin sit beside some latter-day hippie going mushroom picking the next time he has to go to BC in a hurry. He might learn a little about real life.

I think we should be far more concerned about underlying policy than any specific issue. What we're seeing is a whole lot of scandal mongering without a lot of facts being available, and not very much discussion of the policies. It's partisan hackery.

 

[Ten Packs]

 

[mrmom2]

Dingwall deserves a noose not a fecking golden handshake .Thats exactly whats wrong with our goverment and I'm sorry Rev theres no fecking excuse .These fecking guys are taking us all for a ride and I for one am sick of it . :evil:

 

[Kellen]

Re: RE: Government considerin

Separation pay, even if you quit, is a fairly standard corporate practice. That is especially true when it comes to executives, who tend to snag a golden parachute no matter under what circumstances they leave.

For those who work for a living this seems really bizarre because we can't even get pogey if we quit, but that's the way it is in the world of suits and ties.

The Liberals corporate background is showing here. The Conservatives, who have pretty much the same background, are being hypocritical with their criticisms. If he was their patronage appointment, they'd be doing the same thing. I seem to remember the Liberals going after Mulroney for much the same kind of thing in the past, so they were hypocritical then and are just stupid for not changing things.

This whole thing has me asking a lot of questions. $740,000 may not be much in expenses, depending on whether they were justified or not. Even the car allowance for the BMW isn't really excessive for somebody at Dingwall's level, at least if compared to people working in the private sector. Personally, I'd make him ride the bus, but that's just me.

What I've been hearing mentioned most often is that Dingwall put a pack of gum on his expense account. If his biggest transgression is being a cheap bastard I have wonder why the hell we'd care. If any of us had an expense account that allowed us to spend like that, we would. I really want to see the results of an independent audit before I decide whether Dingwall acted crookedly or not.

What this really brings up is what the hell government policies are. Should they be following the same guidelines that corporations follow, especially with patronage appointments? Why can't make these bastards sign a paper saying that they be given a package when they leave and won't sue for severance? Why aren't we putting these guys in smart cars or making them ride scooters or something?

Why do we still allow patronage appointments at all? I've never seen a government, federal or provincial, that doesn't use patronage appointments to reward its buddies, so all parties are guilty of it, but why is it allowed at all? The general electorate has been complaining about patronage since the first king of the cavemen allowed his son-in-law to lead the hunt, why hasn't somebody changed it by now?

The lobbying thing is a joke. The man broke the law, but it has been two years, so he will get away with it. Who the hell made that little clause up? It had to be somebody in government and anybody who knows anything about government knows that two years is about enough time for whoever is supposed to be investigating to get a cup of coffee. Again, the Conservatives are as bad as the Liberals when it comes to this sort of thing.

Same with the jet thing. Hey, maybe they do need to fly around in those jets. They could be filling the seats with standby passengers to help offset the costs though. Let Martin sit beside some latter-day hippie going mushroom picking the next time he has to go to BC in a hurry. He might learn a little about real life.

I think we should be far more concerned about underlying policy than any specific issue. What we're seeing is a whole lot of scandal mongering without a lot of facts being available, and not very much discussion of the policies. It's partisan hackery.

Great post, I agree 100% rev.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Government considerin

What if the $5700 meal brought in $500,000 worth of business though? Our mint does a lot of work for foreign countries, so that's a possibility. The thing is that we don't know at this point whether the meal was justified or not. If he was wasting money, string him up. Charge him with fraud or embezzlement. Let's find out first though.

In the meantime address the flawed policies this whole thing raises. That's what politics is supposed to be about. That's why the words look so similar.

Right now this is just like the Judy Sgro thing. Everybody is doing a lot of hooting and hollering without knowing the facts and nobody is talking about the real issues. We still haven't done anything to adequately protect migrant workers on temporary visas, which is what Sgro's stripper friend really was, and when this Dingwall thing is over we will have done nothing to address the many government policies that have been brought into question by his actions.

 

[justfred]

I guess we as Canadians should be used to the government waste and cronyism that exists in Canadian politics. I can just imagine how the Prime Minister makes the decision on who should be the leader of all of the government departments.

He would call his liberal campaign manager and ask for the list of people who donated to the liberal party. Now, when you sort the names with the amounts of donations beside the name, those with the largest donations would naturally be sorted to the top. Well, Paul would say, he qualifies, as his name is at the top of the list. If the candidate is a real good guy he would thank the PM in a very nice way, like an all expense paid trip or maybe a couple of hundred thousand in small bills, not new. I guess if I worked for the mint, I should be able to handle that without any repercussions.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Government considerin

We should be used to it by now, but it's a mistake to think this only goes on in Canada. Christ, look at Bush's latest appointees, or check out any of the EU countries.

If you've ever been to a government job interview, even for a low-level position, you will have had to face a board. Not many of these patronage guys have to go through that.

These positions should all be handled in exactly the same way. Let them compete with everybody else, based on skills and experience. Guys like Dingwall could still apply, and some of them might even get the gig, but it would have to be done on merit.

 

[bevvyd]

Rev, that board interview is just for when you first enter into the federal government. After that the positions are usually filled by the coffee group first. Been there seen this.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Government considerin

I dunno...I know people who have had to do the board thing every time they wanted a promotion and others who haven't. It's always seemed to me as if those without the political connections have to face a board.

I did it once and didn't get the job (I was kind of surprised I got that far...I have no university degree) and I didn't like it at all, although I did okay.

 

[PoisonPete2]

How about JAIL TIME for Dingwall. Not one cent for this guy. And there should be a concerted effort to weed all the other government fraudsters out of 'service'.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: Government considerin

If he's done anything wrong, then it is either fraud or embezzlement. If he was within the guidelines though, then he did nothing wrong.

I'm far more interested in changing the guidelines than anything else. I have a feeling that his infractions will turn out to be minor if there are any at all. The government was looking a little smug today during Question Period, so my guess is that they know something and they can blame that something on Mulroney after all these years. Either that or they had booze for lunch.