XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: sk.politics, man.politics, mtl.general   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   By Glen McGregor, Ottawa CitizenDecember 12, 2014   
      
      
      
   Taxpayers pay for 3 political staffers in Heritage dept. Winnipeg 'satellite'   
   office   
      
      
   The NDP wants more scrutiny over cabinet ministers’ offices outside of Ottawa   
   to determine whether they’re doing political work on the taxpayers’ tab.   
      
   NDP MP Charlie Angus says there are “way too many political players on the   
   ice   
   being paid for by taxpayers.” He wants greater oversight on the kind of work   
   done in so-called ministers’ regional offices, or MROs.   
      
   Figures tabled in Parliament by Treasury Board Secretariat this week showed 39   
   ministerial staff were working outside of the National Capital Region in the   
   2013-14 fiscal year.   
      
   “There seems to be a pattern that ministers have this budget to be able to   
   move   
   staff into regions that are close to home or politically sensitive to the   
   Conservative Party,” Angus said.   
      
   “They’re cutting front-line staff, they’re cutting services all over,   
   and we   
   wondered if they’re boosting money into these shadowy offices and, sure   
   enough,   
   they are. Where is the accountability?”   
      
   The Treasury Board data show that ministerial staff in certain regions have   
   been shuffled from one department to another, ensuring they were assigned to   
   the senior political minister in the area.   
      
   For example, when Manitoba Conservative MP Shelly Glover became minister of   
   Canadian Heritage in 2013, taking over from B.C.’s James Moore, the   
   Department   
   of Canadian Heritage began paying for three ministerial staffers working out of   
   a regional office in Winnipeg.   
      
   One of them had previously worked as Glover’s constituency assistant and had   
   also worked on her 2011 election campaign. Another of the newly hired staff in   
   the Winnipeg office had previously worked for Public Safety Canada when its   
   minister, Vic Toews, was the Conservatives’ political lieutenant for   
   Manitoba.   
      
   “It boggles the mind that they have a minister of heritage from Manitoba and   
   suddenly they’re shifting staff to Manitoba in the run-up to an election,”   
   Angus said.   
      
   Similarly, ministerial staff in Vancouver who worked for Canadian Heritage when   
   Moore was minister of the department now draw their salaries from Industry   
   Canada.   
      
   Treasury Board rules allow for ministers’ regional offices, though they are   
   not   
   supposed to replicate the work of MPs’ constituency offices or do strictly   
   political work. The governments pays for the office space, salaries and   
   expenses.   
      
   The ministerial employees are called “exempt staff” because they can be   
   appointed to the jobs without going through the public service hiring process   
   and are typically drawn from political supporters.   
      
   The NDP is facing allegations it misused parliamentary resources by stationing   
   staff paid for by the House of Commons in Quebec “satellite offices” of   
   leader   
   Thomas Mulcair. The party has suggested in its defence that the government also   
   puts taxpayer-funded staff in the regional offices to assist its MPs.   
      
   Angus said he became curious about ministerial offices when he learned that   
   Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who represents the riding of Nunavut, had   
   ministerial staff, paid for by her department, stationed in the northern   
   communities of Iqaluit, Whitehorse and Yellowknife. Previously, the offices had   
   been affiliated with Health Canada, under Aglukkaq’s previous portfolio, he   
   said.   
      
   “I thought we needed Health people up there and suddenly they’re working   
   for   
   Environment,” Angus said. “If the ministry of Health was up there because   
   they   
   were needed to do special parliamentary work, you’d think they’ll still be   
   there.”   
      
   The overall number of exempt staff, of whom most work in Ottawa, has risen   
   sharply under the Conservative government. In 2014 there were 21 per cent more   
   political staff hired compared to 2005, the last full year of Liberal   
   government.   
      
   The government telephone directory lists Glover’s Winnipeg-based staff as   
   regional director Olivia Baldwin Valainis, special assistant Jeremy Davis and   
   special assistant Patricia Rondeau, whose voice mail says she is responsible   
   for “caucus relations.” Until 2012, Baldwin Valainis had worked from   
   Winnipeg   
   as an aide to Toews.   
      
   Travel records show that Canadian Heritage has paid $2,894 to twice fly Baldwin   
   Valainis to Ottawa for meetings, and $2,450 to send her to New York City in   
   May, to accompany the minister on a trip to Carnegie Hall for a performance by   
   the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.   
      
   Rondeau, who left the ministerial office recently, was in the news last year in   
   relation to a dispute with Elections Canada over Glover’s campaign spending   
   in   
   the 2011 election. She later worked as Glover’s constituency assistant.   
      
   In an email, Glover’s press secretary, Marisa Monnin, said spending by   
   Glover’s   
   office has been falling, down $2.5 million in 2013-14 compared to the previous   
   year, and down $4.5 million since 2008-09.   
      
   “‎That’s getting results for the taxpayer,” Monnin wrote.   
      
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