Feds spent thousands on golf balls, candy, toys

[Spazito]

OTTAWA - They spent thousands of dollars last year on golf balls, candy, flowers, tickets to gala events and coupons for Tim Hortons.

And you paid for it.

Documents tabled in the House of Commons this week reveal that while Canadians were tightening their belt and bracing for the recession, many civil servants were continuing to spend thousands of dollars of taxpayers money on frills and small perks of the job.

snip

While government spending on golf balls became the subject of controversy after Justice John Gomery, head of the sponsorship inquiry described them as small town cheap — a charge former Prime Minister Jean Chretien rebutted — that didn’t stop civil servants from spending more than $30,000 on golf balls and golf tees in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The biggest single spender on golf balls was the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation which said they have put a halt to the practice.

Civil servants also had a sweet tooth, charging $29,600 worth of candy to taxpayers as well as $15,224 for “games, toys and wheeled goods.”

Tim Hortons is also popular with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government. Last year, civil servants charged $12,590 to buy coupons for the iconic coffee shops and other Tim Hortons products. The biggest fan was the Farm Credit Corporation which racked up $10,270 in Tim Hortons spending in 2008/09 on top of the $10,231 it spent in 2007/08.

more

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2009/09/16/10943871-sun.html

I guess the 'golf ball' is on the other foot now, rofl!

[BolivarianHero]

1. This has little to do with either the Liberal or the Conservative governments...

Civil servants and bureaucrats are not inherently political (save the ones who get their jobs every time new patronage positions are created)), and their giving themselves too many perks on the taxpayer's dime is not really an ideological or a partisan issue. Given the numbers I'm seeing, I'm not really convinced that this is anymore excessive than what a lot of people who work white collar jobs in the private sector get.

I'm a New Democrat, by the way, so don't think I'm marching in here to defend the Tories or past Liberal administrations on this.

[Spazito]

2. I just found it funny that such a ruckus was made over 'golf balls'...

by the Cons and here we have them in the same 'golf cart'. I am not at all outraged about it, I wasn't when it was headlines with the Liberals either. It does remind me of karma, what goes around, comes around, lol.

[Name removed]

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