Cut his budget but give him eight recycled Jubilee Medals with an ongoing option for more!

Good Day Readers:

Since recently duly departed (that is, resigned) Senate Government Leader Majory LeBreton left "The Chamber of Sober Second Thought," her replacement Senator Claude Carignan will have the same budget even though unlike her he will not be a Member of the Conservative Caucus.Therefore, it only makes sense he should have access to less funding.

CyberSmokeBlog's solution? Cut his budget and provide him as starters with 8 recycled Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Medals with an ongoing option for more. Judging by some who received them they were given out like candy to every Tom, "Dick" and Harry..

The Plan

All Senators and Members of Parliament automatically received one each. The 8 would be revoked for Senators who have less than distinguished themselves, namely:

Brazeau
Duffy
Harb
LeBreton
Merchant
Stewart Olsen
Tkachuk
Wallin

If any others display a less than stalwart performance they too would lose theirs. Ditto for Members of Parliament. This way Mr. Carignan would have a constant supply of Medals to give to God knows who. Pretty good idea don't you think?

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk

Senator Carignan not in Cabinet, but to recieve nearly $300,000 Senate Government leader office budget

Quebec Conservative Senator Claude Carignan, the newly-appointed government leader in the Senate, is receiving the same nearly $300,000 office budget as former Senate government leader Majory LeBreton even though he does not have the same duties after Prime Minister Stephen Harper excluded the post from Cabinet

By Tim Naumetz
Monday, September 16, 2013

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pictured in this file photo with Quebec Senator Claude Carignan. (Photograph courtesy of the PMO)

PARLIAMENT HILL—Quebec Conservative Senator Claude Carignan, the newly-appointed government leader in the Senate, is receiving the same nearly $300,000 office budget as former Senate government leader Marjory LeBreton even though he does not have the same range of duties after Prime Minister Stephen Harper excluded the post from Cabinet.

Prime Minister Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alberta.) named Senator Carignan to the position on August 30 after he overhauled his Cabinet in July, bringing in a half-dozen new faces as he began laying plans for the sprint to the 2015 federal election and tried to put a raging scandal over Senate expense claims behind him.

The former government leader in the Senate, Senator LeBreton, stepped aside following the uproar over the expenses and the role she played in Senate machinations that initially glossed over impugned expense claims by former Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, now sitting as an Independent after leaving the government caucus in the dustup.

Though Mr. Harper broke with tradition to exclude the Senate government leader from his ministry, his appointment of Senator Carignan, a former law professor before his new life as an unelected lawmaker, was expected to help calm the turmoil on the Senate front.

But Senator Carignan’s status as a defeated Conservative candidate from the 2008 federal election, who received his Senate plum from Mr. Harper less than a year later in August 2009, has further fuelled an NDP campaign to gather public support for abolishing the Senate.

The government’s online employee telephone directory service still had Senator LeBreton’s Senate government leader office and staff on its site as of Monday, and showed 11 senior advisers and other staff listed.

Senator Carignan’s new directory for his leader office has only five staffers listed, although Senator Carignan is also still listed as the deputy government leader in the Senate, with three assistants.

Like all Senators, Senator Carignan also will receive the $168,200 that all 105 Senators receive to run their Senator offices, although most do not have offices in the regions they represent and maintain staff only in Ottawa.

NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay, Ontario) expressed a new level of frustration with the Senate on Monday, after being told by The Hill Times about the $297,400 budget Senator Carignan is keeping for his Senate leader’s job, without the extra duties Senator LeBreton had in her Cabinet role.

“It speaks to this huge democratic deficit that we see with the Senate,” Mr. Angus said, pointing out that a substantial majority of voters in the Quebec riding of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles rejected Senator Carignan in 2008.

“Here’s a man who ran for elected office and was rejected, roundly, by the voters. Now we’re stuck with him until he’s 75,” Mr. Angus said in an interview.

“He gets to oversee what the democratically elected representatives do. He’s got a budget that doesn’t seem to have justification for what his position is. I think what’s even more galling is the Senate last year got an increase in their budget. They aren’t accountable, they’ve been absolutely atrocious money-managers, and have shown contempt for the average person in Canada, and they got an increase, and meanwhile all our offices took a cut,” Mr. Angus said.

“In my office, we’re doing frontline work; what used to be public service, we do the pension problems, we do the immigration issues, we fill out passports for people,” he said.

“So we see these guys over in the Senate with all these budgets, no explanation, no justification and they don’t even play by the rules when we see these kinds of scandals, so what gives?"

The Senate’s communications office confirmed to The Hill Times that Senator Carignan’s budget as government leader in the Senate would be the same as Senator LeBreton’s for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, as set out in the Senate Administrative Rules.

An aide to Senator Carignan said the Senator would not likely comment until after he meets the Conservative Senate caucus. Prime Minister Harper’s communications office did not respond to two emails.

tnaumetz@hilltimes.com