“I’m entitled to my entitlements.” David Dingwall, former federal Cabinet Minister – October 19, 2005
If you had any doubt that some Metro Vancouver civic politicians were out of touch with the people they serve, you can put your mind at ease.
Last week, 24 hours Vancouver broke the story that Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, along with three of his political allies and a handful of bureaucrats, went down to Arizona on a taxpayer-funded junket. The itinerary included a couple of rounds of golf, leisure shopping and an afternoon spent watching the Chicago Cubs spring training camp.
You would think after this $13,000 junket became front-page news the Mayor and his entourage would be somewhat contrite. Not so.
Unlike Baljinder Narang, vice-chairwoman of the Burnaby School Board, who actually had the good sense to pay her own way down, Corrigan won’t be opening up his wallet anytime soon.
Not only will he not apologize for heading to sister-city Mesa, Ariz. during spring break, he’s now boasting about another overseas junket he’s got in the works.
In what can only be described as a jaw-dropping interview with Global TV’s Jas Johal, Corrigan appears unrepentant.
“The people of Burnaby would think I was crazy if I went down to Mesa and didn’t take the opportunity to get out and have a golf game or see the Chicago Cubs.”
Video: GlobalTV's Jas Johal interviews Burnaby Mayor Corrigan
As for whether he might be cutting back on all that international travel in the coming weeks, Corrigan said,“The politicians should be taking these kinds of trips. They should be continuing to make these kinds of relationships. In fact, I plan on visiting our sister-city of Zhongshan later on this year.”
Sitting in the middle of the council chamber for the interview, a clearly agitated Corrigan tells the reporter not to expect much in the way of economic benefits from all this cross-border travel.
“The question is not about bringing business to Burnaby. You seem to have a view that this is all about how much business we can bring in. You’re a little too focused on business in fact.”
I’ll let you, the reader, be the judge. Perhaps Corrigan is right and the taxpayers should cut him some slack regarding his warm-weather working vacations.
Or maybe you’re more like me and think Corrigan’s statements smack of political hubris. My guess is the people of Burnaby don’t think it’s all that “crazy” to spend their money wisely.
- post by Daniel. As a feature of this post listen to Mayor Corrigan interviewed by Province columnist Michael Smyth on CKNW's Bill Good Show regarding the Burnaby junket:
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These guys are amateurs compared to the GSE in the states,they got Bob a little upset.Maybe we could get Bob to come up here and have word with the mayor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0uL_w7N9hjo
I see the Burnaby Now has just posted a big story on Corrigan’s junket.
http://www.burnabynow.com/news/Burnaby+mayor+defends+spring+break+trip+Mesa+Arizona/6448908/story.html
Just loved the line in their report:
“Mesa’s mayor, Scott Smith, is a Republican mayor and was elected in May 2008.
He was unavailable for comment on this story when the NOW tried to contact him, as he was in Europe.”
Hmmm…another sister-city trip perhaps? Or personal travel this time? LOL
I am disturbed with Mayor Corrigan’s continued poor judgment in spending our tax dollars. What a WASTE of Burnaby Taxpayers monies. Mayor Corrigan should keep his presence in Burnaby, working for the Citizens.
In a time of constraints, Mayor Corrigan should exercise more care with our tax dollars. Our taxes will be increasing another 3 to 4 % this year
We are in the 21st century. Our city manager surely has the skill sets and access to technology such as video-conferencing or Skype to setup meetings with Mesa to brainstorm ideas instead of going on these junkets.
So how can Mayor Corrigan justify this latest junket on the tax-payer dollar? And how can he justify the tens of thousands of tax dollars he has now cumulatively spent (over multiple terms) visiting “sister-cities” in Japan, Arizona, and who knows where-else … as well as in HOSTING those sister-city delegations from Japan, Arizona, and who knows where-else?
City taxpayers should not be funding a “vacation exchange” for their elected officials. We deserve more respect, and more VALUE for our money. I ask that Mayor Corrigan reimburse (from his own pocket) any expenses billed to city taxpayers for this latest trip and then cancel all future planned junkets UNTIL such time as he can present taxpayers with a ZERO increase in the property tax levy.
Finally Mayor Corrigan also exercised poor judgement in travel planning. The LEAST he could have done was to use YVR, Instead of the Bellingham airport.
As a retired 22 yr. UPCE member I fail to see how this shows any respect for the unionized employees at YVR. I hope that they, and their counterparts in other BC unions, remember this clear sign of disrespect when Mayor Corrigan next appears (cap in hand) seeking contributions to his next election campaign.
What a WASTE of Burnaby Taxpayers monies in times when this council continues to raises our taxes.
If your typical ‘white collar worker’ pulled the same crap many politicians do, they would be cooling their heels in jail.
With Corrigan – wasn’t he using taxpayer dollars to fund his annual golf tournament hosting those that ‘donated’ to his political career?
To me a bigger concern is why would he want to travel to one of the most right wing reactionary states in the US – if Burnaby council had any real leadership they should be telling the Mesa folks and the Arizona governor that until such time as you start treating all citizens equally our sister city is no longer a sister city.
Only the residents of Burnaby should be concerned. And they seem to be happy writing this guy a blank check. He gets elected and then reelected each time he runs. He is a slam dunk winner, big expense account or not.
Reminds me of the cartoon I saw in the Van Sun a couple of months ago.
Very young son sits beside father reading the newspaper and says, “Dad, I’ve decided that when I grow up, I’m going into organized crime”. Dad replies, “Public or private?”
Politics 101 has it wrong. Arizona does have laws that some find discriminatory, but those laws are directed toward the illegal immigrants that cross the border near Douglas AZ daily. They set up camp in Arizona and enroll their kids in schools, some claim welfare, and use free medical services at county hospitals. All at tax payer’s expense. To tell the truth, we complain when economic migrants who call themselves refuges do exactly the same thing in Canada.
@BobH:
I have a dear friend who is Vietnamese and she tells me that there are a lot of Vietnamese people here without ‘papers’ – so truly no different than what the US is facing.
A short while back, the news published a 10′s of millions dollar figure that was uncollected by our (BC) medical system for US residents coming here and seeking medical assistance.
Is this Mayor, who knows how to spend other people’s money generously on himself, the same one that together with Vancouver’s punk protested against oil tankers at the port of Vancouver? Ironic.