Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Liberals bill taxpayers $1million to spin Gomery fallout

From the National Post:

"The Liberal government has set up a secret war room -- at a cost of about $1 million to Canadian taxpayers -- to handle the fallout from the Gomery commission.

Documents obtained by the Citizen through the Access to Information Act reveal that the rapid-response war room, which is in almost daily contact with the Prime Minister's Office and the government's top bureaucrat, Alex Himelfarb, operates out of the Privy Council Office.

The cost of the strategic office, which does everything from preparing answers for question period in the House of Commons to keeping the Prime Minister's Office abreast of testimony at the inquiry, covers the salaries of staff and expenses.

The war room and its cost came to light on the heels of last week's complaints from Justice John Gomery about officials exaggerating the cost of his inquiry."