Alberta Premier Alison Redford resigned over an expense scandal but not CBC President Hubert Lacroix
By Stephen Pate – There is an avalanche of expense scandals catching politicians lately. They are losing their jobs. The latest resignation came yesterday from Alberta Premier Alison Redford.
Redford wasn’t cheating like the CBC’s President who double-dipped $30,000 on his per-diems. Redford simply had too many expensive trips outside the Province of Alberta.
The difference between the two expense issues is how the media covered the story. Despite being a popular politician, Alberta’s Premier Redford suffered at the hands of Canada’s sexist media. No female political leader is spared by the old boy’s club of Canadian journalists. Second, the Canadian media protect their own and CBC President Lacroix is one of them. Some call that a double standard.
Redford spent $16,000 on a 3-day trip to Chicago to promote Alberta’s interests. It cost $45,000 to travel to the funeral of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. While some may question the trip, Redford has international connections with the United Nations.
Right or wrong, she was drummed out of office by the media who took a delight in picking apart her expense claims, about the way they hounded Mike Duffy from office. Some say Redford lacks an emotional connection with people but that is bogus. She just won a difficult election two years before.
The media have a double standard about their own expense claims. If someone in the media double dips, when and if the public find out it’s just a mistake. No media outlet hounds another media outlet. The big media in Canada run a pact of silence about their own faults.
Did anyone ask why the CBC President got away with $30,000 of extra expenses? The better question is why is Lacroix being paid $1,500 a month for per diems anyway. The excuse is he gets that because his job is in Ottawa and he wants to live in Montreal.
Hubert Lacroix CBC CEO, oops I double dipped by mistake (CP photo)
If someone offers you a job, a committed candidate goes to where the job is.
Lacroix was offered the job at CBC headquarters in Ottawa but he didn’t want to move, despite his $400,000 annual salary.
The most important person at the CBC is taking planes, trains and automobiles every time he has to see the people he manages in CBC headquarters. That’s 5 to 6 hours of Lacroix’s time wasted every time he goes to work.
Perhaps it is Larcoix’s sense of entitlement that allows him to waste his time in travel while the CBC goes down the drain. Could Lacroix have devoted more time to saving CBC’s crown jewels Hockey Night in Canada?
Who knows if he could have done a better job because Lacroix was too busy filling out expense reports for $10 lunches at Tim Horton’s instead of doing his job, $10 lunches for which he already got paid $1,500 a month. Those little receipts added up to $30,000 and were worth the effort until he got caught.
Redford went out with dignity. Lacroix won’t leave until he decides he wants to.
Follow me on Twitter at @sdpate or on Facebook at NJN Network and OyeTimes.
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