Ottawa

It’s the only way to live

CTV tabulates the bills for ministerial transportation.

The analysis reveals that the drivers who serve the Public Works and Government Services Minister Rona Ambrose accumulated the most overtime: more than 1,000 hours costing taxpayers $40,074.

Records show that Tony Clement, then Industry Minister, had a driver on standby for more than 360 days that year. The driver charged taxpayers to be on “standby” for Clement virtually every hour outside of his regular shift — 16 hours every weekday and 24 hours on weekends to a total of 6,548 hours in 2010/11. (Standby hours are paid out at 0.5 hours for every four hours on standby).

The hero of fiscal prudence turns out to be Gary Lunn, who, while a minister, apparently opted to walk. This is even more impressive when one considers that, as a relatively shorter person, Mr. Lunn conceivably requires more steps to cover the same amount of ground.

Update 3:47pm. A note from Ms. Ambrose’s office explains that the minister’s driver has recently been classified as exempt staff and no longer receives overtime.

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