While those stories sometimes make for a good chuckle, the expenses cost us all through higher taxes and fees. But imagine if we could find a way to get even more people inside government working towards preventing wasteful spending in the first place?

Consider a couple examples of how conscientious government employees in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have anonymously helped fight wasteful spending.

A source at SaskPower, Saskatchewan’s publicly owned power utility, recently tipped-off the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a donation-based taxpayers watchdog organization, about a $143 million refurbishment of the crown corporation’s headquarters in Regina. When we were told about the project, there were no media stories about the initiative let alone discussions about how the $143 million would be spent. Thus, the project was flying below the radar and had avoided scrutiny from outside the crown corporation.

After receiving the tip, we filed what are known as “freedom of information requests;” a process that allows the public to get documents and information from government organizations. The results of our request turned out to be quite fruitful.

Incredibly, the crown corporation wanted to spend $282,000 for a rooftop patio (including heaters and $72,750 worth of stone floors), $65,628 for “living walls” (putting grass on the walls around the elevator areas), $200,000 for kitchen equipment and $173,250 on metal cladding for the “penthouse” to name a few of the more questionable items on the list.

Fortunately, once we brought the proposed expenses to light, the minister responsible for SaskPower put his foot down and said the ‘grandiose’ renovations will not move forward. And with that, hundreds of thousands of ratepayer dollars – perhaps even millions – have been saved.

In Manitoba, whistleblower tips helped the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) draw attention to employees at a child welfare agency who received bonuses just for showing up for work. Fortunately, once we brought the matter to light, the Minister responsible banned the ‘show up for work bonuses’ going forward.

Those are just a couple examples of how those on the inside have anonymously helped prevent wasteful spending.

Thankfully, technology allows insiders to speak out without jeopardizing their positions. For example, we often receive anonymous phone calls from blocked numbers, emails from accounts people set up to converse with us, and many tips still come through regular mail. Sometimes people have documents to share while other times they can tell us exactly what documents to ask for. Certainly many whistleblowers notify the media, politicians and other organizations about what’s going on too.

Obviously, if a whistleblower has shared information with you, you too can always use the same aforementioned tactics to get the word out. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has brought many problems to light over the years that we learned about from those outside government; friends or relatives of government employees, employees of businesses who did work for the government, etc.

The bottom line is, the more people watchdogging government, the more money we can all save.