Stephen Harper exposes 'secret' gas allowance for Canadian politicians and civil servants.
posted by Michael McCafferty at Thursday, October 06, 2005
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Stephen Harper exposes 'secret' gas allowance for Canadian politicians and civil servants.
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Michael, according to the Ottawa Citizen today, in a story written by Tim Naumetz, it was Mr. Peter Milliken, Speaker of the House of Commons, who in a memo circulated to all MP's disclosed that the travel allowance for MP's and bureaucrats would be increasing. As you know Michael, these increases in travel rates are regularly increased due to increasing costs and the practice is as common as snow in the winter. Harper only read the memo to discover the story so I don't think he should get any awards for being able to read.
It is an untimely increase, but politicians and bureaucrats have always had it better than the average wage earner. The middle class Harper refers to have always receieved less than the politicians and that won't change if the Harper conservatives ever form government.
Please note the following news story by Tim Naumetz in the Ottawa Citizen:
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MPs, PS workers get break on gas prices
Fuel allowances go up 10% due to soaring costs, but government won’t cut taxes for public
BY TIM NAUMETZ
MPs and public servants have been quietly awarded a 10-percent increase in their car travel allowances in response to soaring gas prices as the government refuses to cut federal fuel taxes to help the driving public.
The travel allowance increase, to 50.6 cents per kilometre from 46 cents for MPs, with a similar range for public servants, would result in a travel allowance of $400 for a return trip by car from Ottawa to Toronto, excluding costs for meals and lodging.
The increase came to light in a memo Commons Speaker Peter Milliken circulated to MPs yesterday, alerting them to the fact their travel allowances would rise to match Treasury Board rates for bureaucrats that the government increased last Saturday.
Mr. Milliken’s memo didn’t mention rising gas prices, but a Treasury Board notice to public servants said their allowances were being increased “in response to recent fuel price increases, as an interim measure.”
By coincidence, the head of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation arrived on Parliament Hill yesterday to present 35,000 petitions to the Conservative party to table in the Commons urging the government to reduce federal excise and sales taxes by five cents a litre. Federal levies and the GST total more than 17 cents a litre.
Federation national director John Williamson was furious to learn the government increased allowances for public servants in response to rising prices, but has refused to help out consumers and drivers who earn their livelihoods behind the wheel.
“I think there are two sets of rules in Ottawa, one for federal employees and another for taxpayers at large,” said Mr. Williamson.
The anti-tax lobbyist and the opposition parties said home heating fuel rebates the government is planning for targeted families, including seniors and low-income Canadians with children, is not enough.
Finance Minister Ralph Goodale is set to unveil the $2.4-billion energy assistance scheme in the Commons today, but NDP leader Jack Layton and other MPs said the relief net should be wider.
“Take a working couple earning $40,000 a year — they are not going to be able to get any help,” said Mr. Layton. “Someone working at Tim Hortons is out of luck in terms of getting help,” he said, comparing the plight of average Canadians to a reported $500,000 severance package the government may be arranging for David Dingwall, a longtime Liberal who resigned as president of the Royal Canadian Mint over lavish expense accounts.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper also cited Mr. Dingwall’s severance package, saying the government has offered nothing for consumers and households struggling with high fuel costs.
“Despite the so-called big announcement on rebate cheques, farmers, taxi drivers, truckers and the vast majority of consumers will not get a single cent from the government,” Mr. Harper told the Commons.
Mr. Williamson said the government should scrap a 1.5-cent-per-litre deficit-elimination tax that Prime Minister Paul Martin introduced as finance minister in 1995, but which continues even though the federal budget has been balanced since 1998. The federation also wants the government to stop applying the seven-per-cent federal GST to federal and provincial excise taxes and levies on gasoline, which Mr. Williamson said has cost taxpayers a further $4.8 billion.
Calgary Conservative MP Jason Kenney said MPs, as well as public servants, should not get a travel allowance increase to counter rising gas prices until the general public receives help.
“I think it should be put on hold until all Canadians get some real gas tax relief,” said Mr. Kenney, who said he does not own a car.
The government energy relief package is expected to help up to three million Canadians, government officials told reporters earlier. Payments were expected to be $250 for families with children and for senior couples, while single seniors would receive $125.
10:04 PM
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