Many countries and industries present awards for outstanding achievement by individuals and groups and we are all familiar with awards like The Grammies, The People’s Choice and The Oscars. Awards are not merely presented for achievement in the arts and in entertainment, however. The Nobel Committee presents awards recognizing significant contribution in fields such as medicine and environmental sciences and there are countless academic, scientific and industry-specific awards world-wide.
Perhaps no single group, however, is more overlooked when it comes to awards than government but in Canada, a nation of thoughtful and sensitive people, we have rectified this with the Taxpayers' Federation of Canada's Annual Teddy Awards for outstanding achievement in government waste and stupidity.
The 2011 Awards were presented yesterday on Parliament Hill. Sadly none of the recipients were available to accept their awards in person but we believe they should receive the recognition they deserve. Here are the Teddy Award recipients for last year.
The Federal Teddy Award – Winner: Agriculture Canada
Agriculture Canada won for its program to provide financial subsidies to tobacco farmers to make the transition from growing tobacco to an alternate crop. The program was a bargain at a mere $284 billion but unfortunately, after the investment was completed, there were actually twice as many farmers growing tobacco as there were before the cash subsidies were distributed.
The Life-time Achievement Teddy Award – Winner: Gilles Duceppe
For those unfamiliar with Canadian politics, Mr. Duceppe was the former leader of the Bloc Quebecois, a political party with the decided objective of bringing about the break up of Canada by causing the province of Quebec to secede and become an independent nation (still using Canadian currency and relying on Canada for defense, communications and health care). Mr. Duceppe who did not wish to be a Canadian nonetheless felt obliged to encourage others to benefit from Canada and quickly put his party's executive director on the federal payroll. It is estimated that his career in federal politics has cost the country in excess of $41 million and a grateful nation has awarded him a pension worth in excess of $2 million for his efforts.The Provincial Teddy Award – Winner: The Alberta Legislature
This award was presented in recognition of Alberta’s standing committee on privileges and elections. Each member of the committee, which is comprised of 25% of the politicians sitting in the legislature, is paid a monthly stipend of $1,000 in recognition of their commitment and dedication to review political privilege. The committee has not met since 2008 which makes it quite the privilege.And my particular favourite
The Municipal Teddy Award – Winner: The City of Montreal, Quebec
The award was presented in recognition of the city’s dedication to ensuring that sidewalks were plowed even when it hadn’t snowed. This video says it more elegantly than any words of mine ever could. Close runners up might have been the City Of Ottawa for putting GPS tracking devices on Blanding Turtles and a $1.3 million bike lane over six blocks in the downtown core but nothing quite rose to the effort put forward by Montreal. Here's the video of their hard work and dedication.
The Teddy is named for Ted Weatherill, a former federal government bureaucrat who was dismissed in 1999 for inappropriate expenses. Apparently Mr. Weatherill was never able to find a lunch in the city for less than $100 when the government was paying….which apparently was frequently.
Sadly, Mr. Weatherhill is no longer able to spend taxpayer money but fortunately it appears that there are more than a few who were only too willing to step up and carry on the tradition of waste and stupidity.
We salute them all.
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