Crown pays $20-K tab for executive

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This article was published 22/02/2018 (2246 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An executive hired by Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries last April received 15 paid return-trip flights to her home in Calgary, valued at $7,142, and accommodation expenses worth more than $12,000 during her first six months on the job.

Deanne Carson, MLL vice-president of marketing and communications, incurred more than $20,000 in expenses under a “transition agreement” with the Crown corporation. The Free Press obtained details of the agreement through a freedom of information request.

A human resources expert said transition agreements are frequently offered to corporate executives. They can range from six months to a year in length, said Barbara Bowes, president of Legacy Bowes Group, which helps corporations recruit executive talent.

But a spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation questioned the return Manitobans received for all of the paid flights and accommodation costs.

“It’s hard to imagine how taxpayers were getting value for all of those flights,” said Todd MacKay, the federation’s director for the Prairies. “What did Manitoba taxpayers get out of Flight No. 15?”

He said he could understand payment of some initial round-trip flights for interviews, compensation for moving costs and some initial accommodation expenses. But he questioned anything paid beyond that unless there were exceptional circumstances at play.

If there are, the Crown corporation should say so, MacKay said.

The $12,134 Carson received for accommodations from April through September 2017 is more than some people pay for a down payment on their home, he said.

The Crown corporation said in its freedom-of-information response the “relocation expenses” were negotiated as part of Carson’s overall compensation and are a taxable benefit. The expenses included $1,171 for ground transportation.

According to the flight dates provided by the Crown corporation, Carson, more often than not, flew to Winnipeg on Mondays (or Tuesday following a long weekend) and departed for home in Calgary on Fridays. On several occasions, she also flew back to Winnipeg on a Sunday.

In January, the Free Press reported Carson, a former vice-president of marketing for the Calgary Stampede, had been commuting to her home in Calgary on weekends since her appointment. She said at the time she pays the cost of her travel between Winnipeg and Calgary to visit her family.

However, she only began to bear the entire cost of her commutes in November 2017. Her salary was not disclosed.

A senior executive at Manitoba Hydro, Siobhan Vinish, also commutes on weekends to Calgary. Previously, Scott Thomson, Hydro’s former president, commuted to Vancouver on weekends.

Apart from the $20,472 she received as part of her transition agreement, Carson billed her employer $4,554 to attend a Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in October. More than half of the cost — $2,624 — was for the conference registration fee. She also incurred $560 in other work-related expenses from April through November.

Andrea Kowal, MLL’s communications director, said Carson is the only member of the corporation’s executive team who is from out of province.

“When a successful candidate needs to relocate, we take into consideration individual circumstances in negotiating transition costs. This might include whether or not they have a spouse or family to relocate, how soon they would be required to start, they might have a home to sell… and any other number of factors,” Kowal said in an email.

MacKay said what worries him beyond the value of the transition agreement is what it may say about the culture within the Crown corporation.

“If you get the idea that 15 (paid return) flights is normal, that is something that can permeate through an organization,” he said. “And all of a sudden, you’ve got money leaking out all over the place.”

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca