Furniture storage and waste 'unacceptable,' says PMO

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office urged two federal cabinet ministers to intervene last summer following "unacceptable" revelations that the government's lead department on protecting the environment was going to replace office furniture, stored for a year at a cost of $141,000, with brand new work supplies and equipment.

Environment Canada was planning to dump the material through an online Internet auction and buy new furniture for an office building under renovations in Gatineau, Que., that would be increasing its number of workstations. But Harper's office was not pleased about media reports that the government had paid to store the furniture for a year.

"It might be better to say this is completely unacceptable and the minister has asked officials to review these procedures," wrote Brock Stephenson, an issues manager in Harper's office, in an email sent to a counterpart at Public Works and Government Services Canada on July 27.

The email is part of a package of more than 1,100 pages worth of correspondence released by Public Works through access to information legislation. The emails show a maze of consultations that went into the overnight hours as bureaucrats from the two departments pointed fingers at each other as they scrambled to find an explanation about the recycling controversy.

Stephenson also asked the offices of Environment Minister Peter Kent and Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose whether they were consulted about the storage, but an official from Kent's office replied: "No! Give me a second (and) I will send more info — just in a meeting with minister now."

Harper's office said Monday that it was "always working to reduce wasteful and inefficient spending."

"We expect decisions to be made in the best interests of taxpayers and equipment should only be replaced when absolutely necessary," said Harper's spokesman Andrew MacDougall. "This storage was completely unacceptable. However, the renovations allowed Environment Canada to fit more employees at this site — thus reducing the costs of another facility."

The government has said that the decision to buy new furniture would save money based on an analysis and estimates from the time it made its decision. But other internal documents have suggested the government was overstating its estimates of the cost of recycling by a factor of 10 and that it could save up to $1,000 per workstation by recycling, Postmedia News reported in January.

The government estimated the recycling costs would be higher by making an "assumption" about delivery and installation fees, the newly released emails said.

Liberal MP David McGuinty, who asked the government to review the matter last summer after being contacted by a business in his Ottawa riding that was storing the furniture, said the emails from Harper's office suggest that all of the official explanations were deliberately misleading.

"This goes all the way to the top," McGuinty said. "The storyline isn't based on the facts . . . It's a story that is concocted by crisis communications people in the PMO."

The emails also indicate that the decisions were taken by bureaucrats who believed they were saving money and later found themselves pressured by political operatives who wanted to avoid embarrassing questions.

In a separate exchange, one senior bureaucrat appeared to be skeptical about a statement sent from Kent's office that referred questions back to Public Works.

"Interesting punt to us," wrote Kathleen Kieley, a director general at the communications branch of Public Works, at the end of the day on July 28. "OK. Let's see what the morning brings . . ."

Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Mike De Souza