David Dingwall is Entitled, Ballsy

If there's one thing I know about my American readers, it's that they can't get enough Canadian politics. Hearing about our parliamentary system is fascinating to them, what with its hair-curling corruption that transcends partisanship and even common sense.

Canadian politics is a lot like the Special Olympics. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, just showing up makes everybody a winner. Except instead of getting a plastic medal and a kiss on their giant foreheads from Euinice Shriver, Canadian losers get patronage appointments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Because prime ministers only rarely lose elections and tend to resign on their own timetable, they have tremendous power over their successor government. Often times an outgoing prime minister will name several of his defeated Cabinet ministers to patronage posts, so that they may continue to rule from beyond the political grave. Because the jobs are for set terms, they cannot be overturned by a subsequent government without just cause.

Sometimes this leads to amazing levels of trouble.

When he resigned in 1984, Pierre Trudeau gave his successor, John Turner, a list of patronage appointments he wanted made immediately and Turner complied. This became an issue in the general election later in the fall, and Brian Mulroney beat Turner over the head with it in the debates. Mulroney

So it was for David Dingwall, a former stooge in the erstwhile government of Jean Chretien. Dingwall was the guy Chretien turned to for the hard jobs. When battling the deficit required slashing the tits off of health care funding, Dave was there. When the Ministry of Public Works needed new leadership, Dingwall became its minister and .... interesting things started happening.

Sadly, the Chretien government cut off subsidies to coal miners in Dingwall's native Nova Scotia, and voters kicked his ass directly out of politics at the earliest opportunity.

No biggie. Dave cashed in as a scumbag lobbyist (a designation that I don't consider a personal slight since all lobbyists are scumbags) and was appointed to head the Royal Canadian Mint just as Chretien was being removed from political life by his former finance minster, Paul Martin.

The Honorable Mr. Dingwall's tenure at the Mint was, shall we say, storied.

In the fall of 2005, Dingwall came under scrutiny for having allegedly made excessive expense claims while he was president of the Canadian Mint. Conservative MP Brian Pallister had received documents on Mint expenses and made them public. Those documents showed that Dingwall and his top aides accumulated office expenses of more than $740,000 in 2004. That total included $130,000 in foreign and domestic travel, $14,000 in meals and $11,000 in hospitality. Among the items charged were $1,400 for his membership in the Rivermead Golf Club, $5,900 in automobile expenses, and $1,500 in membership fees in the Nova Scotia Barristers Society.

Dave's defence was, if nothing else, novel. There was an almost jaunty combination of arrogance and bewilderment to it that would shock anyone who isn't already familiar with Bill O'Reilly.



Why am I regurgitating a four year old story? There are two reasons, actually. Firstly, I'm in love with it in ways that exceed my ability to express or explain . Secondly, because everything old is new again.

Remember David Dingwall’s famous testimony that he was “entitled to his entitlements?” The meter was running even as he said it.

Back in 2005, Mr. Dingwall, a former Liberal cabinet minister, was called to explain the expense bills he racked up as Master of the Royal Canadian Mint.

The irony? He billed the mint $39,789 in expenses for appearing at the committee.
Documents obtained under the access-to-information act reveal that Mr. Dingwall billed that sum for the legal fees he ran up for his appearance at the committee.

Is there a better time to be a Liberal than this year? No, I don't think there is.