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OTTAWA — The Liberals say the Harper government was guilty of "abuse of process" when it went on a patronage binge on the eve of the election, making or renewing appointments for federal positions that didn't need to be filled until weeks or even months after the Conservatives were defeated.

Dominic LeBlanc, the new Liberal government's House leader, has sent letters to 33 people who received plum jobs in federal agencies or Crown corporations during the dying days of Stephen Harper's Conservative regime.

He's asking them to voluntarily resign.

LeBlanc says that's not a judgment on any of the individuals who received appointments; it's a judgment on what the new government considers the illegitimate manner in which the appointments were made.

He says the process was improper because it the appointments were not made transparently and were not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

LeBlanc is confident that most, if not all of the 33, will voluntarily step aside.

FuzzyO

Dec 12 2015, 02:25 PM

Buying them out will cost a pretty penny.

campy

Dec 12 2015, 02:30 PM

They don't have to buy them out.

They can just terminate them. That's what the Conservative interim leader said.

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You see, I don't get this that the Conservatives who made the appointments well before the election are seen as some kind of monsters.

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Former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet quietly stacked government agencies and Crown corporations with dozens of “future appointments,” and early appointment renewals in the dying days of its regime, many of which were only scheduled to go into effect long after the Conservatives were defeated, iPolitics has learned.

While some had been due to come up for renewal in November and December, others were renewed up to a year in advance of when they had been scheduled to expire and made effective the date the appointees’ current term was due to end.

For example, Mark O’Neill’s term as director of the Canadian Museum of History wasn’t scheduled to expire until June 2016.

Last June, Harper’s cabinet renewed his $212,700 to $250,200 a year job for five years, effective June 2016.
John Badowski’s appointment as chairman of the Transportation Appeal Tribunal was renewed July 28. The renewal takes effect Jan. 1, 2019, and runs until July 29, 2020. The position currently pays between $174,700 and $205,500.

A review by iPolitics of order in council appointments by the Harper government found 49 appointments were made in recent months but scheduled to only take effect after the Oct. 19 election. Of the 49 appointments, 15 went into effect between election day and November 22. Six take effect today.

Another 28 are slated to go into effect between November 26 and January 2019.

campy

Dec 12 2015, 02:20 PM

The Liberals have a majority.

Fire them.

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The appointments were made even before the election was called so where is the abuse of process?

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The opposition didn't say a word when the appointments were made?

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Trudeau’s office was caught by surprise Monday when iPolitics published a story noting the Conservatives made 49 appointments and reappointments last spring that would come into effect only after the federal election had passed, apparently an attempt by the Conservatives to bind the hands of a new government. Most appointments — in several cases for terms that had not yet expired — were dated for November and December, although some do not come into effect until January, February and March, and, in one case, 2019.

Liberal Sen. Percy Downe, who served as director of appointments for former prime minister Jean Chrétien between 1998 and 2001, called the future appointment practice “unheard of” — noting in particular the reappointment for John Badowski at the Transportation Appeal Tribunal slated for Jan. 1, 2019.

Downe expressed surprise that the Privy Council Office had not briefed the incoming government during the transition process.

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The Prime Minister's Office is particularly incensed over the unusual, and extraordinarily high, $1-million-plus severance packages that some appointees negotiated with the Conservative government. In total, taxpayers could be on the hook for $18.5 million to break the contracts.