Lock the Provincial Gift Cupboard: Huntington

Delta, B.C. – Government employee “morale boosting” gift distribution programs are an affront to taxpayers, says Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington.   Huntington had sharp questions for Finance Minister Kevin Falcon today, asking the government to end the program and disclose all details about its oversight and accountability.

 “Mr. Falcon, the gift program must stop immediately.” says Huntington. 

 “The province is running a deficit, special needs citizens are waiting for service from Community Living BC – yet the BC government has storerooms of luxury items for government employees to reward one another at will. It is unbelievable.  If our government needs a toy box of chocolates and designer goods to motivate civil servants – we’re in more trouble than we thought,” Huntington says.

 “BC Government employees are not children at a dentist – they don’t need to expect presents for a job well done.”

 Last weekend, a Vancouver Province column reported Ministry of Finance employees are not expected to receive their manager’s approval before using an internal government online shop to send co-workers items ranging from Future Shop gift cards to hiking gear from Mountain Equipment Coop.  In response to the controversy, Finance Minister Kevin Falcon said he would be “surprised” if there was any abuse of the program, and reiterated his general support for the $1.5-million morale program which he says was initiated by the NDP in the late 1990s.

 “It’s disturbing how the government is so out of touch, so dissociated from reality.  How can the Premier and Minister Falcon, straight out of the HST, now stand, hands-in-pockets as taxpayers are being fleeced? I don’t care if the program has been around for a hundred years:  this needs to end, now,” says Huntington.   “The morale program was originally about recognizing employees with a special dinner acknowledging years of dedicated service.  This is not the same as an unlocked toy store.”

 Huntington is also demanding Falcon immediately disclose the rules governing the gift programs, and disclose how many government ministries have such programs in place.

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Contact:
Vicki Huntington
Office: 250-952-7596