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the richmond
richmondreview.com
REVIEW WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012
28 PAGES
MP won’t account for use of chauffeur Richmond MP Alice Wong says she will not violate privacy of her staff by Martin van den Hemel Staff Reporter Richmond MP Alice Wong said she won’t give an accounting of her use of a personal driver in Ottawa despite the fallout from a CTV News report indicating federal ministers had racked up a six-figure bill for chauffeur overtime charges over a one-year period. “Due to privacy concerns I am unable to provide you with the private and personal details of my staff,” Wong said in an email response to The Richmond Review’s request. “With regards to the use of Ministerial drivers, we are always looking for ways to run the government at a reasonable cost to taxpayers, and this is an area that we are already looking at. ALICE WONG “However, I would like to point out that salaries and overtime from drivers employed by the public service are based on collective agreements with unions,” Wong said. When asked last week if she would disclose the total amount she spent on drivers, or the number of hours drivers were used, or the make and model of the vehicle she uses, Wong did not furnish any further information before The Review’s Tuesday afternoon deadline. Wong is minister of state for seniors, and as such had access to a vehicle and driver. Following a freedom of information query by CTV, it was revealed that federal ministers had racked up more than $600,000 in overtime between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011. Drivers had a salary of between $46,000 and $50,000. Overtime payouts averaged more than $20,000, with one minister ringing up a bill of more than $40,000. It was noted in the CTV News report that MPs already get access to free taxi chits. Wong, whose office is across the river from Ottawa in Gatineau, Que., uses a black Chrysler four-door sedan to get around town. “We are saving all the money by using this because I have my staff coming over as well,” Wong told CTV News.
Matthew Hoekstra photo Normand Curley practises his postures at the Y Yoga studio in Richmond Monday. Curley has dedicated one year of his life to yoga, taking up to seven classes per day.
‘A day without yoga is a day without sunshine’ Man fights depression with up to seven yoga classes each day by Matthew Hoekstra Staff Reporter
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ormand Curley was sleeping 20 hours a day. Pills, counselling, group thera-
py—nothing helped the 56-yearold rise above a deep depression. But something drew him to a simple wooden-floor studio in Richmond that would change his life. In yoga Curley found a new path, a way out of depression and a passion that runs so deep he’s dedicating one year of his life to arm balances, backbends and inversions. So luring the lizard, sun salutation and pigeon pose, Curley takes up to seven classes each day at Y Yoga on Alderbridge Way.
“A day without yoga for me is a day without sunshine. That’s how I feel about it,” he said. “It has become something I eat, sleep and do all the time.” Born in Montreal, Curley suffered a serious workplace injury in 1989 while working as a carpenter. A tornado swept through a high-rise job site while Curley was working on the seventh floor. Doctors told Curley—who lost a finger in the accident—he wouldn’t be able to work in the field again. See Page 7
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