Recently released numbers reveal that 3,325 spin doctors toil for the Harper government at an estimated cost in 2014 of $263 million.
When we’re spending nearly as much on spin as we are on the House of Commons, we’re on a very slippery slope indeed.
Last week, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation released the head count and salary costs of the federal government’s legion of information services staff.
The numbers, released in response to an access to information request, reveal that 3,325 spin doctors toil for the Harper government at an estimated cost this year of $263 million.
Despite the Harper government’s avowed objective to reduce the federal public service by 19,000 positions, the ranks of communications staff have grown by 163 since the Conservatives took office, while costs have risen by $48 million.
The combined payroll of federal spin doctors rivals the $329-million payroll of the House of Commons, the beating heart of our democracy, the institution we rely upon to keep hundreds of thousands of federal officials accountable.
And the payroll hit for communications staff — $263 million — does not include the RCMP, the military, the Canada Revenue Agency, independent tribunals such as the Canadian Human Rights Commission or Crown corporations. This is just the core public service we’re talking about. Who knows what it costs Canada Post for media spinners to explain that community mailboxes are better for us than door-to-door delivery?
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