The Toronto Sun reports,

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has paid out nearly $7 million to political staffers who have left their jobs over the past two years.

The amount of "separation pay" that was doled out at the discretion of cabinet ministers is more than twice the amount of "severance pay" the Conservatives were obliged to pay departing political aides under government guidelines.

In a response to a written question tabled in the House of Commons, Treasury Board president Vic Toews revealed that between Oct. 19, 2007, and Oct. 19, 2009, the government handed out $2.01 million to departing aides in severance pay and $4.9 million in separation pay...

Kevin Gaudet, of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called for the government to scrap the system of discretionary separation pay.

"It's a sugaring-off account because the staff know where the bodies are buried."

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Elsewhere, Prime Minister Harper is spending an additional $1.7 million of tax dollars on communications, the Globe and Mail reports.

Taxpayers are being asked to pay an extra $1.7-million this fiscal year to help bolster Stephen Harper's communications support services – just as the Prime Minister's Office begins distributing government videos of Harper to the news media.

Supplementary estimates tabled last month by the Privy Council Office, the Prime Minister's bureaucratic back office, boosted internal operational spending by almost $7.3-million for 2009-10. That's on top of existing budgets.

Included in that total is $700,650 for 6.5 new positions “providing communications advice, service and support to the prime minister.”

There's also an extra $1-million for “events” preparation, including “broadcast sound, lighting and recording services, costs of transporting equipment, travel, overtime, office and logistical support...”

According to information provided to Liberal MP Martha Hall-Findlay, by PCO, $270,000 of the total is overtime pay owed to harried technical support staff, including videographers.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, talk ISN'T cheap.

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And if you thought the Liberals' sponsorship scandal was over--well, not quite. New details mean the case continues to echo. The latest news is that former Public Works minister Alfonso Gagliano had $117,000 of fake invoices used to pay for his personal expenses during trips abroad. More in the Globe and Mail.