If there’s a lesson the province can learn from this luxury-limousine-sized embarrassment, it’s that language counts.
Language like “quit it”. “Stop, or you’re fired.” “No more chauffeurs.”
Pretty much anything direct and to the point might have worked — after all, strong unwavering words sure had an instantaneous effect last October, when the provincial government finally read the bureaucratic riot act to Marilyn Smith, chair of the Calgary and South Mental Health Review Panel.
By then, Smith had managed to spend another $12,000 dollars on chauffeured limousine rides between Calgary and hearings in town like Canmore, Claresholm, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat, where mental health cases were discussed.
“When it became clear that town car usage had continued after this initially came up, the minister made it clear to our officials that town car usage is unacceptable to Alberta taxpayers,” said Alberta’s health ministry, in a written statement.
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