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First Nations Financial Transparency Act

Shooting the Messenger - CTF Draws Fire for Defending Taxpayers



Winnipeg, Manitoba -- Five years ago the Canadian Taxpayers Federation took on a daunting task; lobbying the Canadian government and its Indian and Northern Affairs department for greater transparency. The CTF was acting on complaints it received from concerned reserve members, questioning how their band funds were being spent.
As anyone who deals with government knows, getting anything out of them other than a tax bill is akin to successfully landing on the moon in a rubber dinghy. Yet somehow, with great difficulty, the CTF persevered and the First Nations Financial Transparency Act was recently enacted. Consequently, audited financial statements have started to appear on-line causing devastating public relations damage to both Ottawa and certain gold-plated chiefs, one of whom was found to have earned nearly a million dollars in fiscal 2012/13. No wonder Ottawa fought the CTF tooth and nail. As shock, anger and outrage swept across Canada, I was dumbfounded to read an article in my local Winnipeg newspaper denouncing the CTF’s effort and attacking its Manitoba regional director. Perhaps as vile were the forum posts written in response to the article, supporting its author’s comments while defending the status quo. Perhaps this surreal and tragic comedy turn-around is best summed up as; one small step for taxpayers and one giant leap for socialism. The new reporting requirements have yielded some shocking revelations and most media, including the lefty Toronto Star, had no choice but to admit how out of control things are. “The best paid politicians in Canada aren’t in Stephen Harper’s cabinet”, wrote Brett Popplewell of the Toronto Star, August 3, 2014. “They’re in some of this country’s most impoverished communities – the First Nations. According to data released by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, at least two First Nations Chiefs earned more than the after-tax income of the prime minister of Canada during the fiscal year 2008-2009.” Popplewell concluded, “Nine chiefs –whose salaries are tax free –earned more than the take-home pay of federal cabinet ministers and 30 earned more than the provincial premiers”. Yet these rock-star salaries seem like pocket change when compared to what Chief Ron Giesbrecht of the Kwikwetlem band earned in 2012/13. His salary, including commissions, came in at nearly $1M making him the highest paid politician in Canadian history. And by the way, his king’s salary was earned by managing the affairs of an 85-person band.

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It is important to note that many native bands have tiny populations, some as small as 12 people, and even a child with a vague sense of fairness can assess this situation as out of kilter. Consider also that chiefs on reserves are not subject to taxes and nearly every penny that gets plowed into reserves is taken, by force, from taxpayers and redistributed to the tribes. One would think that spending public funds ought to be subject to the highest scrutiny, and it is unimaginable that it took an uphill, five year struggle just to get the department to report band spending. Makes actually solving the problem seem, indeed, impossible. In spite, according to a recent Winnipeg Free Press op-ed written by Dan Lett, the CTF is out of line and taxpayers should quit complaining. In his article titled “Attacking Chiefs Mindless” Lett begins and ends his articles in typical Liberal glibness with lines like, “Oh the outrage” and “Let the howling begin”. I guess citizens expressing concern at how their hard-earned money is being spent is mindless howling. Lett goes on to criticize the CTF and hints that perhaps the group may have some deep, darker motives for their criticism; such as daring to criticize the government, “Ironically, this is the same shtick the CTF uses to assail wages, benefits and especially pensions paid to non-aboriginal elected officials. In the CTF world, it seems all salaries for any elected officials are too high when taxpayer dollars are used to pay for it”, writes Lett. One can only guess Mr. Lett has a hard time getting his mind around the notion that CTF is a taxpayer advocacy group which, guess what, advocates for taxpayers. Oh the horror! Mr. Lett doesn’t seem to have any problem with the hundreds of government supported Liberal groups which advocate for a myriad of causes including ducks, trees, the environment, gays and lesbians, the poor and hungry and practically any other cause imaginable. Never mind that the CTF operates exclusively through private donations which are, the last time I checked, perfectly legal. Further, citizen advocacy groups play an important function within our civil and free society, providing the people some redress with a government which normally couldn’t care less about what they think. Ironically, the CTF succeeds where the Canadian media fails. Perhaps Mr. Lett and his acolytes would prefer the heady days of the former Soviet Union, when dissidents were arrested and thrown into gulags? While we haven’t started to arrest dissidents quite yet, the government has already set up gulags which are called Indian reserves here in Canada. We have a right, indeed an obligation to ask the questions Mr. Lett. And we’re concerned since it’s the same people supervising these dysfunctional reserves that are managing the affairs of the greater Canadian population. The $8B spent annually on native affairs is suppose to go to help the people living on reserves, not to buy chiefs new pick-ups or skidoos every year, or to fly them and their entourages to Las Vegas three times a year. And does Mr. Lett really want to argue about the fairness of government salaries? I guess Mr. Lett is fine with MPs retiring with a full public pension after just six years of service. Don’t most government employees contribute to their public pensions at rates far below what private sector employees pay on their own pensions? We have bus drivers and TCC ticket-takers in Toronto earning in excess of $100,000 annually, with teachers in Flin Flon Manitoba earning close to that amount. These scenarios play out in practically every jurisdiction across Canada. While we cannot absolve the chiefs from wetting their beaks, we can at least understand why they do so when practically every politician and public sector worker in Canada is doing the same. This at a time when far too many Canadians are out of work, and those fortunate to find a scarce job are lucky to earn the average private sector wage of $45K a year before taxes - minus of course the lavish pensions and benefits their public sector counterparts receive. All this is going on when our national debt is topping $625B. Add in provincial and municipal debt and Canada’s total tops a staggering $1.2T minus unfunded liabilities. This doesn’t account for private household debt either. I would argue that our dire financial situation is hardly supportive of million dollar salaries for politicians. The Fraser Institute – another evil, taxpayer advocating, privately funded agency that I am sure Mr. Lett would like to see shut down - published a landmark study last year which provides an unprecedented look into aboriginal funding since 1947. I wouldn’t expect any of you to have heard of the study since our concerned friends in the liberal media failed to report it – guess they missed the Canada-wide press releases they were sent. The study, published in December 2013 and titled, “Ever Higher – Government Spending on Canada’s Aboriginals since 1947”, discloses some shocking facts:
  • The increase in spending on Canada’s Aboriginal peoples has been significant. In real terms, department spending…rose from $79M annually in 1946/47 to almost $7.9 billion in 2011/12.
  • Using census data and adjusting for population, Aboriginal/Indian Affairs spending increased from $922 per registered First Nation individual in 1949/50 to $9,056 in 2011/12. That constitutes an 882 percent rise in spending per First Nations person. In comparison, total federal program spending on all Canadians rose by 387 percent from $1,504 in 1949/50 to $7,316 in 2011/12.
  • It is estimated that $235B has been spent on aboriginal people since 1947 although the report acknowledges this figures is conservative given the accounting includes only four government agencies, excluding municipal and territorial spending. In other words the total spending is much higher
  • .
One has to ask, where was Mr. Lett when all this was going on? Isn’t he a journalist, entrusted by the people to carry on the important task of getting to the bottom of government malfeasance? Instead he and the Winnipeg Free Press are too busy reporting on things that truly matter, like the Winnipeg Jets or what Hollywood harlot is sleeping with whom. Nice to know they find the time to bash those daring to question profligate public spending. Yet for all the media’s apathy towards the plight of taxpayers, somehow, the message is getting out through the diligence, thankless and hard work groups like the CTF and others do. Apparently the members of the Kwikwetlem band get it as they recently gathered to denounce Chief Giesbrecht and call for his resignation. Apparently the band members weren’t even aware of the lavish salary and commissions they were paying him. The press certainly didn’t tell them. To be fair there are many chiefs who are responsible with public money and who truly care about their constituents, and many earn salaries that are reasonable for the work they do. And our outrage is not directed at the people living in squalor on reserves. Rather our wrath is directed at the Federal government for its legendary and on-going mismanagement of native affairs over the past 50 years, where hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent for no appreciable improvement to living conditions on too many reserves. We are also angry at the profiteers and opportunists, the lawyers, special interest groups, bureaucrats and chiefs who make a tidy living off the well-intentioned yet naive and exploited goodwill of the generous and kind Canadian people. Given we the citizens are held in such contempt and disrespect by our governments and by the media, the CTF is one of the few entities that are looking out for us. I would strongly urge you, therefore, to support their efforts and perhaps even consider making a donation. Their work is important and must carry on lest, before long, we all find ourselves living in squalor on government reserves.


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Tom Barak -- Bio and Archives

Tom is a Canadian-based freelance marketing consultant and writer and has been a long-time member of the Conservative movement. He received his MBA accreditation from the University of Manitoba and splits his time fundraising for community centres and mentoring and consulting with local and national businesses.


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