IT APPEARS the Defence department has exorbitant amounts of money to spend on a party for the military brass but has very little for the workers.
An investigation, which has been confirmed by Defence Minister Art Eggleton, is under way into a $2 million conference and party attended by Canada's top military officers and their guests in Winnipeg in July 1997.
An estimated 304 people, including 16 serving generals and 18 retired generals, attended the four-day conference.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages cost a little more than $74,000, including about $8,000 in tips to hotel staff, according to military documents. Rooms cost another $130,000 and four different types of air force planes were used to ferry delegates from across the country to Winnipeg.
Eggleton defended the conference, claiming it was a useful exchange of information. But when asked if spending $2 million on a conference would send out the wrong message, he replied, "we have to judge these on a case-by-case basis and so I'd ask you to wait until we get the audit report."
While Eggleton could find a lot of crumbs for the brass to have a party, he only had a few for the Public Service Alliance of Canada members who have either been laid off at CFB Goose Bay or are facing wage cuts of up to 60 per cent following the takeover of the base by a multinational company from Europe.
CEP Local 298