Juno News - November 08, 2018Why are taxpayers subsidizing lucrative private sector careers for former governors general？
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Summary
Since leaving office more than a decade ago, former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson has billed taxpayers more than $1.1 million, plus another few hundred thousand that wasn t publicly declared for... well, it's not quite clear.
Transcript
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Since leaving office more than a decade ago, former Governor-General Adrienne
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Clarkson has billed taxpayers more than 1.1 million dollars plus another few
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hundred thousand that wasn't publicly declared for... well it's not quite clear.
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I mean this is not just her although it sounds like she's been particularly
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problematic as far as how much she's been racking up in bills for which the
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taxpayers are on the hook but Adrienne Clarkson is taking advantage of a
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program that gives lifetime administrative support to former
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Governors-General. The rationale behind this is that a Governor-General is never
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quite finished being a public figure and even when he or she leaves office they
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still have all of these things that they're doing for the people of Canada.
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Well as a Canadian I'd rather just have the money back and I think that's
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probably where most Canadians are on this. Now the current Governor-General
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doesn't even like doing any public appearances even the ones for which
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she's paid to do as the Governor-General but I would hate to imagine that say
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Julie Payette after leaving office would be given an indefinite and seemingly
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infinite amount of resources when the role isn't quite clear. Adrienne Clarkson gave a
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very half-hearted defense of what she did in the Globe and Mail in which she
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chalked it up to some unpaid speaking engagements she's done, pieces she's written
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for free and all of this we're supposed to be grateful for her doing. She said she
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could have just played golf but that wasn't an option. Well at this point I'd
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say the golf course is beckoning because I'd rather her spend some time doing 18
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holes than racking up expenses when I'm not as a Canadian benefiting from it. And I
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say this as someone who has very low expectations for the Governor-General. It's a
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ceremonial role but do I want you know four, five, six former Governors General at
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some point conceivably all going around billing the taxpayers because they still
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believe they're a public figure despite no longer having the title or the
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official residence that suggests they are public figures. Because that's what's
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happening. And for former Prime Ministers in Canada there's an expectation that
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they go into the private sector and that's where their money is supposed to come
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from. We give Prime Ministers who have left office a pension of course which as
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much as government pensions are out of hand I think is reasonable but at the
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same time these do not extend to office supports or administrative benefits. You're
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in the private sector you deal with it yourself. And for Adrienne Clarkson I'd say
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the same is true. She has a speaking agent which means that she's able to bring in
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significant amounts of money for public speaking. She's got a foundation which
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receives a great deal of money and corporate sponsorship. So I don't like the
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idea of Canadian taxpayers subsidizing what is now a private sector career. So
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to all former Governors General the message is simple. Cut them off. For the