When news broke that taxpayers were covering 60% of the salary for the president of the Winnipeg firefighters’ union, we had some questions. Here’s the biggest one: how did this happen?
So the Canadian Taxpayers Federation submitted a freedom-of-information request asking for: “any documents provided to City of Winnipeg mayor or council (or any member thereof) regarding this issue.”
We got one document back.
It’s an agenda for a meeting on Jan. 21, 2014, between the mayor and the city’s chief administrative officer. The agenda includes 10 minutes for a United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg Update – discussion only with no documents. That’s it.
City officials dropped the ball. This issue clearly merited more than a 10-minute chat. There should have been supporting materials. Even if then mayor Sam Katz was asleep at the switch, or worse, in favour of the bad deal, city officials should have documented the decision to show they did due diligence.
While we were at it, we also requested a list of all reimbursements to the City of Winnipeg from unions.
To see all of the documents the CTF obtained through freedom-of-information requests, please click this LINK.
Is Canada Off Track?
Canada has problems. You see them at gas station. You see them at the grocery store. You see them on your taxes.
Is anyone listening to you to find out where you think Canada’s off track and what you think we could do to make things better?
You can tell us what you think by filling out the survey