Perks of the Civil Service – Paid Vacations in Ottawa!
July 7, 2006 · By H. Cameron
One word comes to mind when describing the government program that will send “every new federal civil servant[s] from coast to coast to Ottawa on a two-day, all-expenses paid trip to give them a “big picture” understanding of how government works.“,
prod·i·gal·i·ty (prÃ…?d’ÄÂ-găl’ÄÂ-tÄ“) n., pl. -ties.
1. Extravagant wastefulness.
2. Profuse generosity.
3. Extreme abundance; lavishness.
Or perhaps,
bull·shit (bÊ? l’shÄÂt’) Vulgar Slang. n.
1. Foolish, deceitful, or boastful language.
2. Something worthless, deceptive, or insincere.
3. Insolent talk or behavior.
You take your pick…
Make sure to head on over and take a peek at the Orientation to the Public Service (OPS) at the “Canada School of Public Service” and marvel at Canada’s ingenius approach to bureaucratic indoctrination in the ways of entitlement. Your tax dollars at work!
Combining this with Garth Turner’s broadside against the parliamentary allowance towards the mortgages of MPs, the elimination of waste seems to have slipped out of Mr Harper’s vaunted priorities. Hat-tip: the Politic via Ontario Blogs
Yeah. I would write my local MP about this one. Seems a lot more productive than bitching about it here.
I would have to tend to agree with Anonymous, actually. It seems pretty silly to blame new public servants for something that is a requirement of thier job.
If you think that this is a waste of public money, then take it up with those who make the decisions about where the money gets spent! And remember, without public servants, none of the services you expect and require from governments would be delivered. So the next time you catch yourself saying “the government should really do something about X”, then talk to your decision makers, and if they agree, and there is enough political will, then they will ask public servants to implement and manage it.
As for whether or not this should be labelled under Corruption and Scandals, well, it seems that it was a pretty transparent process to me. This program was batted around under the Liberals, and when the Conservatives took power, they implemented it. So obviously they do not think it is as bad of an idea as others may.