DND Renovations
Posted Jan 16, 2012 07:16:13 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, Ont.- Just three weeks after the Department of Defence issued a new business plan outlining ways to save money and eradicate 2,100 jobs the department has spent $374,000 on a renovation to the deputy minister of Defence’s executive office.
DND’s executive suite has all the luxuries for Robert Fonberg, his associate defence minister and seven other staff members and includes a board room equipped with video conference capabilities.
Derek Fildebrandt of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation tells 1310News, that ” the message of austerity” has not gotten through to the upper levels of the bureaucracy.
Fonberg maintains the office hadn’t had a makeover since 1992 and new requirements have surfaced that are pertinent for “senior civilian leadership.”
The defence department was knowledgeable about the renovation plan since November 2010, but it was put on hold until the election had passed and then was fast-tracked to May 2011.
The office work comes as DND prepares to move to the former Nortel campus in the west end. Sean McKenny of the Ottawa and District Labour Council tells 1310News that it’s “mind boggling” that kind of money would be spent as the government prepares to reduce the public sector to reduce costs.
In their defence, the department said in an email, they will still use the newly renovated suite after the move.
They also said the original budget for the renovation was $379,000, and DND managed to shrink it to $374,496. The savings still leave a bad taste in Thomas’s mouth.
10,000 civilian and military personnel from Ottawa and Gatineau will be transferred to the new Carling Campus, which the Federal Government bought for $208 million. They plan to spend an additional $630 million in renovations to the new site.
