Move over Grammy, step aside Oscar, now we've got the Teddies. But being nominated to receive one is not an honour; it is to be worn as a badge of shame. Named after former Canada Labour Relations Board Chair Ted Weatherill - who had a penchant for high spending on the taxpayers tab - the 1st annual "Teddies" were given out at a black-tie news conference held in Ottawa by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation on St. Patrick's Day.

Whoopi Goldberg was unavailable to emcee the event (apparently she was busy with some dinky awards show in Hollywood). So our federal director Walter Robinson donned a tux and bestowed the Teddie statue - a beautiful golden sow - upon three deserving recipients in the provincial, federal, and lifetime achievement categories.

The Envelope please -

The provincial recipient of the 1999 Teddie was the B.C. Government for photo-radar stupidity. How else does one explain the spending of $400,000 for a photo radar Verification Rules Reference Book which sets out the "rules associated with accepting or rejecting an image."

The reference book contains such gems as a photo of pavement with a caption that reads "this image demonstrates a camera aimed too low." The manual was a mere 22 pages long with a grand total of 2,637 words. At $152 per word, it may well be the most expensive document ever produced or purchased by a government in Canada!

Other nominees in the provincial category include: the B.C. Government (again!) for the fast ferry cost-overrun scandal; the Saskatchewan Government for losing millions in the Channel Lake scandal and then rewarding departing SaskPower president Jack Messer with a $300,000 severance package; and the Ontario government for squandering $87 million in taxpayers money in self-promotional, partisan style ads just months before an anticipated provincial election.

At the federal level, the Department of Public Works was the clear winner. Their mismanagement of Parliament Hill renovations now means that taxpayers are on the hook for $1.4 billion, up from the original estimate of $440 million. It's clear that Public Works is much deserving of the federal Teddie.

Other fedeal nominees include: the Hon. Sheila Copps for her soon-to-be implemented 'tape tax'; the Hon. John Manley and his love of those poverty-stricken large and profitable corporations who need more government handouts; and four Reform MPs who opted back into the MP pension plan after making such a huge fuss when they opted out of the plan in 1995.

Lifetime Achievement -

The 1999 Teddie for lifetime achievement was given to former PC finance minister, the Hon. Michael Wilson. Mr. Wilson is the father of "bracket creep", the non-indexation of income tax brackets, which was instituted in 1985.

The legacy of this policy has ensured that more than one million low-income Canadians have been pulled onto the tax rolls and another 2.5 million pushed into higher tax brackets. Almost 14%, or $10.1 billion of the $75 billion that Paul Martin will collect in federal income taxes in 1999 is due to the cumulative effects of bracket creep. Perhaps Martin should have accepted on Mr. Wilson's behalf!

Nominations are now open for the 2000 Teddies to be handed out next March. Canadians with examples of waste at all levels of government may submit their suggestions through our web-site at www.taxpayer.com.