Canada's new heritage minister has ordered CBC executives to put a lid on their spending after revelations that a senior executive claimed $80,000 in a single year for theatre tickets, meals and travel.Wait a minute... that's OUR point.
"I am sure that you are sensitive to the fact that, at a time of fiscal restraint when Canadians are struggling to maintain their jobs and savings, this sort of reported excess does not sit well with them," James Moore wrote in a blunt letter to Timothy Casgrain, chairman of the board of directors of CBC.
Moore's public scolding yesterday followed revelations by Sun Media that Sylvain Lafrance, executive vice-president for French services at the CBC, expensed more than $28,000 on hotels, travel and meals in 2006.
That included almost $6,000 for lunches and dinners with other CBC managers. He also spent $7,500 on two business trips to Paris. And his in-office catering bill that year topped $15,000 and included beer, wine, pretzels and nachos for staff.
The spending was contained in documents released under the federal Access to Information law. The records also revealed Lafrance had signed off on $33,000 worth of benefit dinners and theatre tickets for Quebec-based cultural organizations.
A CBC spokesman told Sun Media this week the spending was "fully compliant with CBC corporate policy."
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