Clarkson taps taxpayers for secretarial help

OTTAWA—Former governor general Adrienne Clarkson has billed taxpayers more than $500,000 in administration costs since leaving Rideau Hall, government records show.

The payments, revealed in public accounts documents, are for secretarial help.

Clarkson’s office defends the spending, saying that as “Canada’s most active and involved governor general” she is still flooded with mail and requests related to her time as the Queen’s representative in Canada.

But NDP MP Pat Martin called the funding “ridiculous” and said it should stop.

“She was fairly compensated for her services rendered. The Canadian taxpayer shouldn’t be on the hook for her subsequent expenses,” Martin said in an interview.

“I don’t see any justification for a continued obligation after the governor general leaves office, other than a pension.

“To have an administrative assistant for the rest of your natural born days should not be part of the compensation package for anyone,” he said.

Clarkson, who was named governor general in 1999, left Rideau Hall in July 2005. The “temporary help” costs appear starting in 2006-07, with a bill for $117,704. It was $169,098 in 2007-08; $155,579 in 2008-09; and $115,875 in 2009-10.

According to Rideau Hall, covering administration costs is an ongoing perk for past governor generals.

“The federal government provides administrative support to former governors general for their activities related to their former role,” Rideau Hall spokeswoman Christelle Legault said.

“In doing so, actual and reasonable expenses of secretarial and temporary help services are reimbursed to former governors general,” she said in an email.

Clarkson gets up to 200 letters and between 20 and 30 requests a month for speaking engagements, involvement in benevolent causes and demands related to her role as colonel-in-chief of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Regiment, assistant Michael Henry said.

“As Canada’s most active and involved Governor General, she created a profile which means that there are still many worthwhile calls on her personal participation, which she takes seriously and requires time and research to assess their value for active involvement,” he said.

Salaries and benefits for a staff of two to three people and technical support accounts for most of the yearly expenses of $111, 651, he said.

“The work which is done in her office continues what she considered to be most important during her mandate as governor general and as long as people want her to carry on her work with Canadians, she is happy to have the means that are provided to support this,” he said in an email.

However, a review of the public accounts reports dating back to 1997-98 shows that only one other former governor general has claimed federal funding for temporary help.

Romeo LeBlanc, who served in the post between 1995 and 1999, got $273,115 between 2007 and 2009. Leblanc was 81 when he died in June 2009 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.

After ending her term as governor general, Clarkson and husband John Ralston Saul founded and now co-chair the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, a Toronto-based non-profit organization that helps new Canadians enter mainstream life.

She has also penned a book, Room for All of Us, due for release next month.

Origin
Source: Toronto Star