At $1.31 a person, Governor-General not such a bad deal
By HUGH WINSOR
Monday, March 15, 2004 - Page A4
Can the citizens of a G8 country like Canada afford $1.31 each to have a governor-general as head of state?
That is the question Winnipeg New Democrat Pat Martin was asking the other day, albeit phrased quite differently, as opposition MPs were feasting on the latest cost totals for supporting the country's viceregal couple.
The government has produced a global budget for the governor-general's office for the first time. It includes both the monies transferred directly to Rideau Hall and the costs that other departments and agencies such as the RCMP incur. For this fiscal year, that amounts to about $41-million.
Alarums! Mr. Martin and Conservative MP Peter Mackay were off to the ramparts to decry such profligacy and Mr. Martin said it raised the question of whether Canada can afford such luxury.
They and other critics have made enough fuss about these estimates (which include a somewhat pricey trip to Russia, Finland and Iceland last fall) that the other Martin, the one that hangs out in an equally subsidized unit of public housing on Sussex Drive, has promised his government would be doing a line-by-line review of Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson's spending plans.
Of course, $41-million seems like a lot of cash in anyone's language, but when spread over 31,362,000 Canadians it works out to only $1.31 per person. The critics are making much out of the fact that the Rideau Hall portion has doubled over the tenure of Ms. Clarkson. They conveniently ignore the fact the activities have increased many times more than that during her regime.
According to information submitted to Parliament, 200,000 Canadians visit Rideau Hall annually for events ranging from rock concerts to investitures of members of the Order of Canada.
And all of those trips! Think back to Ms. Clarkson's predecessor, Roméo LeBlanc. Do you remember any pictures of him in an armoured personnel carrier with Canadian soldiers in Kabul? Or sleeping in a tent in Nunavut? Or dancing with the Haida in the Queen Charlotte Islands?
If Prime Minister Paul Martin and his Treasury Board colleagues are going to examine the Governor-General's expenses line by line, lets consider some options.
What about the Governor-General's Literary Awards? Instead of bringing the dozen or so winners and their partners to Ottawa for a ceremony and dinner at Rideau Hall, we could mail them out their parchment and cheques for a few 49-cent stamps. That would be a good way to hide our literary lights under a bushel, but it would save a bit on the chef's overtime.
The Girl Scouts and Brownies will have to go. And what about those six aides-de-camp from the Canadian Armed Forces with their gold-braid lanyards? Ms. Clarkson could certainly carry her own speech text to the podium (one of the aide-de-camp duties) and His Excellency John Ralston Saul could open the car door for her. And we probably can't do much about the Mounties. They say they need $3.2-million for security and unfortunately, heavy security for VIPs is today's reality.
Maybe we should admit we are still a small outpost of fishermen and lumberjacks and return the office of governor-general to its original role -- sitting around Ottawa as a surrogate for a distant monarch initialling warrants for money bills in the Commons.
It is a tribute to the current incumbent that she has redefined that role so much that most Canadians now see the governor-general's office as a uniquely Canadian institution rather than the trappings of a colonial past.
But Ms. Clarkson might be advised to find a new travel agent, especially for overseas trips. Sure, take along some prominent Canadians. That is what a prime minister does on all of his trade promotion tours. But leave some of those 22 staffers who went to Moscow and Helsinki at home. Let the diplomats at our embassy do the work -- that's why we pay them.
hwinsor@globeandmail.ca |
