Trail Times Friday, March 1, 2013
www.trailtimes.ca A5
NATIONAL
Navy ship program numbers are off, says budget officer
EI BACKLASH
THE CANADIAN PRESS/JACQUES BOISSINOT
A group of union members demonstrate against new rules of employment insurance while Prime Minister Stephen Harper attends an announcement Thursday in Riviere-du-Loup, Que.
Senate committee has no issue with allowances THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - The Senate board of internal economy has issued a report saying it has no issue with the housing allowances of all but three senators. An investigation was started last month after revelations that three longtime Ottawa residents in the upper chamber were improperly claiming allowances meant to compensate
senators who keep a secondary residence in the national capital region. All 98 sitting senators were asked for documentation by the internal committee, which reviewed their driver’s licences, health cards and residency information on their income tax returns. As a result of the document checks, two senators, Dennis Patterson and Rod
Zimmer, were interviewed by the committee but subsequently cleared. External auditors continue to look at the expenses of Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy, Liberal Mac Harb and Sen. Patrick Brazeau, who was turfed from the Conservative caucus this month on an unrelated criminal matter.
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Auditors are also examining the travel expense claims of Conservative Sen. Pamela Wallin. Duffy has volunteered to repay his $ 2 2 , 0 0 0 - p e r- y e a r allowance; Wallin has not denied reports she has repaid a substantial chunk of her travel expenses, which total $321,000 since September 2010.
THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - It’s unlikely the Royal Canadian Navy will be able to buy comparable replacements for its aging supply ships with the amount of money set aside by the Harper government, the parliamentary budget officer warned on Thursday. The $2.6-billion joint support ship program is severely underfunded in light of escalating costs and all of the uncertainty associated with the design and required capabilities, Kevin Page warns in his latest report. At least $4.13 billion should be set aside, perhaps more, Page estimates. The report uses the capabilities and dimensions of the existing two supply ships HMCS Protecteur and HMCS Preserver - as the baseline to calculate what a replacement would cost in today’s terms. The government is faced with two choices - either scale back the ship’s requirements, or put more money into the program. “We think it’s a very, very low probability that they’ll get anything near the replacement of the Protecteur for anything like $2.6
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ernment’s estimate and said appropriate safeguards have been put in place to ensure affordability. “Let’s remember, these ships are in the design phase, but as we move forward we have the independent oversight and expertise in place to protect taxpayers,” Ambrose told the House of Commons. Government officials conceded on Wednesday that the final design must be reviewed for cost before the program proceeds to the construction stage.
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(billion),” Page said. “If I had to guess, this looks like a budget constraint. You make the requirements fit within the budget constraint.” Page’s latest report on military procurement could spell more political trouble for the Conservatives, who’ve been hammered over delays and cost overruns in a series of military equipment projects. Nonetheless, Public Works Minister Rona Ambrose remained steadfast Thursday as she defended the gov-
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