You did... you're not getting any new airplanes ;DEye In The Sky said:I was posted last APS to a new geographical location inside the same province. We bought a new home, stayed in hotels, had cleaners in at the residence we vacated, got misc expenses, put my posting allowance into a spousal RRSP, had lawyers fees paid for, home inspections, deed transfers etc.
How come *I* never made it into the news dammit? :tempertantrum:
And don't forget about pension contribution increases as well as PSHCP premium increases in retirement... to name a few more.4Feathers said:Or perhaps this whole thing was just orchestrated as a PR stunt before the TB cuts or modifies yet another one of our benefits. IR benefits and severance pay come to mind....
Transporter said:You did... you're not getting any new airplanes ;D
Transporter said:And don't forget about pension contribution increases as well as PSHCP premium increases in retirement... to name a few more.
I think this is considerably more about sending a nice little "welcome to politics" message to the future Liberal candidate in Ottawa-Orleans. If he thought he was going to run on the strength of his leaked cost-cutting report, he's going to be doing so on a back foot now.4Feathers said:Or perhaps this whole thing was just orchestrated as a PR stunt before the TB cuts or modifies yet another one of our benefits. IR benefits and severance pay come to mind....
George Wallace said:Thank you for that link. It qualifies many of the posts that followed.
It really doesn't matter on what rank a member retires at after over ten years of service; according to the directive any move will be a fairly expensive cost. Movers are not cheap. Realtors (X2) are not cheap. Lawyers and Legal Fees (both ends of move) are not cheap. Hotel accommodations are/may be involved. Temporary storage may be involved. Contracts for cleaners may be involved. Building Inspector fees most likely are an additional cost. Travel costs, even for a short distance are involved. I am quite sure that the expense of $72K for this move, can easily be matched by dozens or more moves made by other members of the CAF on Release after twenty or more years of service. The longer the member serves the more they accumulate in property and the larger their family may become. It is only common sense that their last moves may be expensive. Perhaps the author of this article is on a "witch hunt" looking for some sensationalism to promote their own agenda......or they just have no common sense.
Agreed. Why else would anyone be looking into his expense claims?hamiltongs said:I think this is considerably more about sending a nice little "welcome to politics" message to the future Liberal candidate in Ottawa-Orleans. If he thought he was going to run on the strength of his leaked cost-cutting report, he's going to be doing so on a back foot now.
E.R. Campbell said:.. But, rest assured, the Conservative election campaign War Room will recycle this as part of a campaign to paint M. Trudeau and his advisors as self-indulgent "children of privilege" who bill charities for speaking fees and the taxpayers for local moves. It will be shabby and dishonest but we all know, by now, that negative advertising works in politics.
pbi said:And herein, IMHO, lies a certain danger of "collateral damage" if the issue of CAF compensation and benefits becomes a political football. Whether or not Leslie is an aspiring Liberal politician isn't really the point. The point is that his benefits legitimately accrued to him as a result of fulfilling a contract he signed with the Crown (and, by extension, the Govt of Canada). The Tories singling these out to attack the Liberals might have unintended consequences for the CAF: most Canadians could only dream of such benefits.
Hopefully the result will not be further penny-pinching driven by "optics".
DAA said:So while $72K may seem like an extraordinarily large sum, the payment of those funds would have been made by Brookefield Relocation Services based on existant policy and not by someone in the CF.
DAA said:So while $72K may seem like an extraordinarily large sum, the payment of those funds would have been made by Brookefield Relocation Services based on existant policy and not by someone in the CF.
How many of those members loudly championed defence administration cost savings in a report they compiled and then leaked prior to retiring to go into politics? Somewhat fewer.Eye In The Sky said:Must be a slow news day. "Retired General moves IAW Treasury Board Policy, along with XXXX other Reg Force members who retired in that fiscal year."
hamiltongs said:How many of those members loudly championed defence administration cost savings in a report they compiled and then leaked prior to retiring to go into politics? Somewhat fewer.
I agree that what he did was entirely legal and that he was indeed "entitled to his entitlements". The question of whether or not it was wise given his desire to go into politics as a defence overhead-cutter is another question. If he had retired to private rather than public life there's no question we wouldn't be hearing about this now.
MilEME09 said:I cant help but immediately think of the CPC smeer campaign beginning with this, CTV is now reporting the defense minister has ordered an investigation into his claim because he was apparently moving "just down the street" he is a liberal so of course the CPC will want to take him down.
Eye In The Sky said:I guess they are then also investigating every person in the BRS organization that had anything to do with that file #. Someone approved the payments, just like any other move.
Eye In The Sky said:And payouts/benefits based on approved TB policy.
Must be a slow news day. "Retired General moves IAW Treasury Board Policy, along with XXXX other Reg Force members who retired in that fiscal year."
:Tin-Foil-Hat:
Someone should tell the Minister - this, from CTV .....DAA said:.... At the end of the day, the move is "contracted out", so the CF has little if any say on what is or what isn't paid to the member, so long as it falls within the policy guidelines which are sanctioned by Treasury Board.
Very few will know the exact details and I am slightly concerned with the fact that CTV has this kind of "personal" information, especially when the matter is administered by an outside/contracted service provided.
Makes me wonder how secure the information in my own personal previous relocation file is?
Canada’s minister of national defence says his department intends to examine the “grossly excessive” expenses claimed by a former top-ranking general for a move from his Ottawa home to another residence in the city, shortly after he retired from the Armed Forces.
Documents obtained by CTV News on Saturday revealed that retired general Andrew Leslie, who once led Canada’s mission in Afghanistan, claimed more than $72,000 in moving expenses, including real estate fees, for a move in 2012.
“As such, I will be asking the Department of National Defence to examine how an in-city move could possibly total over $72,000,” Minister of National Defence Rob Nicholson told CTV News in an email on Sunday.
“In the meantime, it is important for Andrew Leslie to explain why he believes this is a reasonable expense for hard working Canadians to absorb. This is a matter of judgment and the responsible use of taxpayers dollars."
Leslie retired from the military in 2011, but members of the Canadian Forces are entitled to expense one last move after they retire.
In a statement to CTV News on Saturday, Leslie was adamant that he did not break any rules.
“The Department of National Defence handles and pays all the costs for packing, shipping… The overwhelming majority of the expense is certainly the real estate fees,” the statement said ....