About a month and a half ago I did a news interview on Sun TV to talk about how the McGuinty government decided to donate $5 million of taxpayers' money towards a federal museum that is located in Manitoba.

Bizare, I know. After all, McGuinty and other Ontario politicians always squawk about Ontario taxpayers giving the feds so much in taxes, but receiving so little in government transfers. You'd think donating to a federal government museum located in another province would have been the last thing on their minds! Apparently not.

Here's the response that I received from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) on the Ontario donation and other expenses - click here to view.

A couple things to note:

1) The $5 million donation from Ontario - according to the Ontario government's public accounts, $1 million has already flowed to the museum. Surprisingly, two years after the first $500,000 cheque, the McGuinty government has yet to actually make an announcement about the donation.

2) Pension costs - the doors haven't even opened yet, but somehow the museum has already spent $1.3 million on pension costs for its employees. When I met with museum staff a couple years ago to discuss cost overruns and other matters, I asked if there was any thought of not having a pension plan for staff. The stunned look I received was priceless; as if I suggested something obscene. Here, I just figured that as 75% of private sector workers don't have any kind of workplace pension plan, a museum that was way over budget would have given the matter some consideration.

3) Helping Hand for the Friends - Why did the CMHR pick up the tab for the CEO search for the Friends of the Canadian Museum Rights (a registered charity)? Sure, the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights are helping to fund a big part of the museum's capital campaign, but it still seems odd. At $73,032, the bill wasn't cheap either!

4) Asterisk needed - make no mistake, the Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights have done a good job at raising private sector donations for the museum. No other federal museum has received anywhere close to the private donations raised by 'the friends.' That's not to say the museum should be funded by government - after all, taxpayers are best at deciding which cultural organizations receive their money - but you can't take away the work 'the Friends' have done.

What we can do though is note that 'private sector donation' figures credited to the 'the Friends' in many media stories are not always accurate. After all, many fail to subtract the $5 million donation from the Government of Ontario and the $4.5 million that was "donated" by Manitoba's crown corporations - the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission, Manitoba Public Insurance, Manitoba Hydro, Manitoba Lotteries and the Workers Compensation Board.  

By: Colin Craig
Posted: November 10, 2011
Topic: Federal

Join Us   |   Donate