NOTE:
Versions of this story also ran in: The National Post (Page 4); Edmonton
Journal (Front Page); Calgary Herald (Page 10); Victoria Times Colonist (Page
7); Montreal Gazette (Page 12); Saskatoon Star Phoenix (Front Page); Kingston
Whig-Standard (Page 14)
PUBLICATION:
The Ottawa Citizen
DATE:
2003.06.26
EDITION:
Final
SECTION:
News
PAGE:
A1 / Front
BYLINE:
Tim Naumetz
SOURCE:
The Ottawa Citizen
ILLUSTRATION:
Photo: Gary Webster flew business class, at $2,900 to $3,030 a return trip.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun
boss spent $209,000 commuting: Former registry CEO crisscrossed country between
Ottawa office, Edmonton home
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
former head of the federal gun registry racked up more than $209,000 in travel
and hotel expenses commuting between his Edmonton home and the centre's main
office in Ottawa over two years, government documents show. Gary Webster, chief executive officer of the Canadian
Firearms Centre until last February, commuted to Ottawa three weeks each month
in 10 of the 19 months he held the position, according to documents obtained by
the Canadian Alliance under the Access to Information Act.
The revelations come after the auditor general last year slammed the gun
control program, which was supposed to cost just $2 million, but had ballooned
to about $1 billion.
In
the other nine months that Mr. Webster was the centre's chief, he commuted
between his residence and the Ottawa office two weeks each month for five months
and made the trip once a month for four months. Flying business class, at a
return-trip cost of $2,900 to $3,030 each time, Mr. Webster racked up a total of
$168,866.70 in taxpayer expenses for airline tickets over a 23-month period.
A
spokesman for the Canadian Firearms Centre denied Mr. Webster was commuting to
Ottawa, insisting instead that the firearms chief was keeping a promise he made
when he took the job to travel to the main office every second week.
Spokesman David Austin said that during the period Mr. Webster led the
firearms centre, the government maintained two headquarters, one in Edmonton and
one in Ottawa.
Under
former justice minister Anne McLellan, an Edmonton MP, the Justice Department
had planned to consolidate the headquarters at one location in Edmonton. That
was scrapped last February under a plan to stop the financial bleeding at the
gun-control program.
The
period in question includes two months before Mr. Webster became chief executive
officer, when he was the deputy director of the firearms centre, and two months
after he lost the post, when he became a special adviser to the deputy minister
of justice, Morris Rosenberg.
Mr.
Webster remained in Edmonton as a special adviser to Mr. Rosenberg, whose office
is in Ottawa. Immediately following his job change on Feb. 7, Mr. Webster made
three trips to Ottawa, two for three days and one for four days.
Wendy
Sailman, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said Mr. Webster was advising Mr.
Rosenberg on changes to the firearms program that Justice Minister Martin
Cauchon announced in February. Hotel
costs totalled $23,923.42 during the 23-month period, while meals and
incidentals came to $9,990.95. Taxis, mileage for his car and car rentals added
up to $6,569.17. Each trip cost taxpayers $90 for return taxi fare between Mr.
Webster's home in Edmonton and the airport south of the city.
Alliance
MP Garry Breitkreuz, a persistent critic of the gun registry program, said the
spending revelations are shocking in light of the recent scandal over former
privacy commissioner George Radwanski's lavish expense accounts and travel
expenditures. He said Mr. Webster
spent an average of $9,100 a month in travel expenses compared to $12,000 a
month spent by Mr. Radwanski.
Mr.
Breitkreuz dismissed Mr. Austin's claim that Mr. Webster was not commuting.
"How else could you account for over $200,000 in expenses?"
said the Saskatchewan MP. "No matter which way you cut it, that's a huge
bill to run up. They're creating a story now to cover their behinds."
Mr.
Webster was the Edmonton-based chief firearms officer for Alberta before
becoming deputy chief of the firearms centre.
Mr. Austin refused to provide Mr. Webster's work and holiday schedule for
the 23-month period and insisted he spent most of his working time in the
Alberta capital. "For the
record, he spent the majority of his time working in the Edmonton office,"
said Mr. Austin.
The
documents show that in May, June, July, September, October and November of 2001,
Mr. Webster spent at least three weeks each month commuting to Ottawa.
Each week, he would leave his Edmonton home on a Monday, Tuesday or
Sunday morning and return on Thursdays and Fridays. He did the same in January,
February, April, May, October and November last year.
Last
December, the month Auditor General Sheila Fraser released her scathing report
on the costs of the registry, Mr. Webster made one trip to Ottawa, two days
travelling and two at the department. Mr.
Webster's living expenses were modest. He often claimed the daily allowance of
$61.50 for food, and hotel rooms in Ottawa were primarily in the $120 range.
NOTE:
Versions of this story also appeared in: The New Brunswick Telegraph
Journal, The Moncton Times and Transcript, Chronicle Herald, The Charlottetown
Guardian, The Vancouver Province, Winnipeg Free Press, The Waterloo Record and
Broadcast News.
French
version
ran in Le Droit, La Presse, La Voix de l'Est, La Tribune, Le Soleil, Le Devoir,
and L'Acadie Nouvelle
PUBLICATION:
Toronto Star
DATE:
2003.06.26
SECTION:
NEWS
PAGE:
A04
SOURCE:
Canadian Press
BYLINE:
Alexander Panetta
DATELINE:
OTTAWA
ILLUSTRATION:
CP PHOTO Gary Webster, former federal gun registry boss,made 56 trips to Ottawa
in 20 months.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gun
registry boss' travel cost censured; Spent $205,000 flying to work from Edmonton
Alliance
calls it latest example of government waste
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
former federal gun registry boss spent $205,000 in public money travelling back
and forth to work in Ottawa over two years, government documents show.
The Canadian Alliance pounced on the information yesterday, calling it
the latest example of government waste in a week marked by allegations of
exorbitant spending.
Taxpayers
funded 56 trips to Ottawa from Gary Webster's home in Edmonton, say documents
obtained by the Alliance through the Access to Information Act.
Webster continued living in Edmonton while he was chief officer of the
Canadian Firearms Centre from July, 2001, until February of this year.
He had to travel to Ottawa for meetings about twice a month, spending a
total of about six days a month in the capital.
Government
officials dismissed suggestions that taxpayers funded a 3,600-kilometre commute.
"To suggest that he was commuting back and forth to Ottawa is
wrong," said David Austin, a spokesperson for the firearms centre.
"The plan was the headquarters was going to join him in Edmonton. In
fact, some people had even moved to Edmonton."
But the move from Ottawa was scrapped under measures intended to stem
massive cost overruns at the gun-control program.
The
auditor-general last year slammed the gun-control program, which was supposed to
cost just $2 million net, but had ballooned to about $1 billion.
Responsibility for the gun registry has since been transferred from the
justice department to the solicitor-general's office. Webster, a justice
employee, left the firearms centre in February.
The
Alliance compared Webster's expenses to the scandal that led to privacy
commissioner George Radwanski's resignation this week.
"This incident proves that the problems with Liberal government
expense accounts go far deeper than just the Radwanski affair," said
Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz of Saskatchewan.