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| Marie Antoinette |
In a recent Twitter exchange I was taken to task for criticizing
the cost of accommodations for Premier Alison Redford’s Executive Assistant
when he stays overnight in Edmonton.
I tweeted, “he could have found decent accommodations for a
cheaper rate than $200 per night for him to stay at the Hotel MacDonald.”
Someone replied the issue is a “tempest in a teapot” and
that in the scheme of things $200 a night is not expensive… that Brad Stables
(the premier’s EA) needs to be housed in safe, convenient, clean
accommodations.
That response is valid, and I almost conceded the cost was
not all that excessive, especially since the Hotel MacDonald offers provincial
employees a special rate. Yet, for
some reason, I just can’t let go of the level of luxury the young EA seems to enjoy, or the way the evidence is piling up that Ms Redford is oblivious to the way her spending is affecting the way we see her.
First of all, her EA is not an elected official. When our elected officials travel away
from home they should be accommodated appropriate to their status and the
business they are doing on our behalf.
But, Brad Stables was not elected. He works under contract, paid out of
the public purse.
It’s not like I expect him to stay at some grungy motel on
the edge of town, but I’m starting to get the feeling our current premier has
no idea how many of the rest of us live.
She doesn’t even attempt to keep costs down when it comes to her own
comforts and to those she favours.
Her unnecessary trip to London during the Olympics, the
$146,000 spent on hotel rooms that went unused, her use $45,000 in associated
costs to fly home from South Africa after Nelson Mandela’s funeral, including
the $20,000 spend on flying her EA to and from Johannesburg on a
private journey.
I don’t want to come across as a spokesperson for the Canadian
Taxpayers’ Federation. I think the
premier needs to travel… and I think she needs to travel in a style that befits
her elected position. She is,
after all, the premier of our great province. Nor do I expect the people who do the work of this province—and
travel away from their families and homes—to stay in Spartan of
conditions.
It would be refreshing if our political leaders tried to operate in a way that made us believe they understood where
the money they're spending comes from.
We all appreciate a bit of
comfort, but wouldn’t it be something if our leaders... you know... actually led... by example.
