OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) will host its 15th annual Teddies Waste Awards black tie ceremony in the Charles Lynch Press Theatre on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, tomorrow, March 6th, 2013 at 10:30 a.m. Like the past three years, the ceremony will run between 8 and 10 minutes.
This year’s host will be CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas. He will be joined by Porky the Waste Hater (the CTF’s tuxedo-wearing pig mascot) and our charming and talented awards hostess.
The waste awards are gilded pig statuettes awarded in four categories; municipal waste, provincial waste, federal waste and lifetime achievement. This year there are 14 nominees in the four categories.
Last year’s winners were:
Federal Teddy Award: Agriculture Canada - its $284 million Tobacco Transition Program aimed at easing tobacco farmers out of the business ended up doubling the number of farmers and boosting production.
Provincial Teddy Award: Alberta's infamous No-Meet Committee - the Legislature's Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing, which paid members $1,000 a month to serve, and didn't meet for 39 months.
Local Teddy Award: The City of Montreal, for its Invisible Snowplows, contractors paid to plow, even with no snow on the ground whatsoever, immortalized on Youtube by a disgruntled taxpayer.
Lifetime Achievement Teddy Award: Former Block Québecois leader Gilles Duceppe, whose $141,000 annual Parliamentary pension for life helps cushion the shame of diverting public funds to pay the Bloc Québecois's executive director at party headquarters, as well as the author of the official book on the Bloc.
Gregory Thomas, Federal Director
