Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ed "AIG" Stelmach

An excerpt from David Swann's latest blog post:

Our member from Edmonton Goldbar – Hugh MacDonald – looked into pay bonuses this week and was shocked to learn that last year about $40 million was given out in bonuses! These bonuses were given primarily to senior government employees like Deputy Ministers and Directors of Boards and Commissions. These are people who are required to work on behalf of all Albertans, not just their Minister. How free can a senior official be if he is getting thousands of dollars in bonuses based on pleasing the Minister? Tens of thousands of dollars on top of salaries of $300,000 to $400,000 per year- and all this at a time when our economy was tanking!

While the AIG executive compensation scandal was dominating the news cycle the story of Senior Alberta Tories getting $40 million dollars in bonuses was floating beneath the radar.

Its probably worth noting that these civil servants are vetted very carefully for their loyalty to the leader and to the party. In other words, the $40 million in bonuses is really another form of partisan patronage. Not unlike the lotteries system apparently.

Bad timing when you just announced you can't seem to find a couple of million dollars to make the office of the Auditor General a bit more effective.

Its ok Ed, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I'll continue to pay my provincial taxes so you have enough money to play a third world big daddy. Please recommend this post

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