No more subsidized parking for ministers’ aides: Clement

OTTAWA – The Conservative government is eliminating overtime for ministers’ drivers and subsidized parking for ministerial chiefs of staffs, as it looks to rein in spending and prepares to overhaul pension plans for public servants and MPs.

Following some large hospitality bills approved by public servants, the government is also moving to have ministers sign off on all government social events and hospitality gatherings costing more than $25,000.

The Tory government is moving cabinet ministers’ drivers – who were previously considered public sector workers – into the ministers’ offices as ‘exempt staff.’ The move will pay the drivers a higher salary – maximum of $66,000 per driver – but eliminate overtime claims, saving taxpayers a minimum $225,000 annually (or about $9,000 per driver), Treasury Board President Tony Clement said Tuesday.

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The decision comes after the government faced fierce criticism in recent months – including from some of its own Conservative backbenchers – for ministers’ drivers racking up more than $600,000 in overtime last year above their annual salaries, often while they waited on standby for cabinet members.

The average ministerial driver was paid $20,000 in overtime last year, according to news reports from earlier this year, in addition to their annual salaries which ranged from $46,883 to $50,755.

Public Works and Government Services Minister Rona Ambrose’s driver cashed in the most, billing the government $40,074 for more than 1,000 overtime hours. Clement’s driver, meanwhile, was on “standby” for more than 360 days last year and billed the public purse accordingly.

The government is also ending subsidized parking for ministerial chiefs of staff (at a savings of about $40,000 annually), Clement said Tuesday, which follows a similar decision to eliminate parking subsidies for government executives as of last June. Together, the initiatives are expected to save taxpayers almost $2.7 million annually.

“These savings send a signal through the government that living within our means, finding efficiencies and ending entitlements are the way forward,” Clement said Tuesday in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada.