The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is getting ready for Christmas just like everyone else and is taking the opportunity to remind Nova Scotians of who has been nice to taxpayers and who has been naughty and deserving of the proverbial lump of coal.

The Taxpayers’ Naughty and Nice List 2015

Naughty:

• Nova Scotia MLAs: fresh off the 2011 election campaign, the government voted to change the pension eligibility rules on years of service from five years and two elections to just two years served. This change means that as of October 1^st of this year, 48 of the 52 MLAs are now able to collect a pension for life starting at age 55. Every year, MLA pensions cost taxpayers $10.4 million.

• Nova Scotia Business Inc & Nova Scotia Tourism Authority “Stuffing” themselves with free food and booze on taxpayer dime: Nova Scotia Government officials and their guests received hundreds of free “hospitality” tickets and partook in golf rounds, food and booze as part of a $300,000 sponsorship of the 2014 RBC Canada Cup/Nova Scotia Open Golf Tournament.

Government officials and their guests at the VIP tent drank 336 bottles of water/pop/Gatorade/juice, 137 bottles of beer/coolers/wine glasses and ate about $15,000 worth of food. The hospitality bill cost taxpayers $22,805.49 or $86 per invitee (264 people accepted a hospitality ticket).

• Former Senator Donald Oliver: got a rap on the knuckles for expenses he filed with the Senate after Auditor General Michael Ferguson said there wasn’t sufficient documentation to show that $48,088 he claimed for expenses had anything to do with parliamentary business.

Those expenses included a golf trip, attending a family member’s convocation and work with “a not-for-profit organization that aims to promote the wines, cuisine, and tourism of a region overseas.” Oliver repaid $1,442 of the expenses before May 7 and the report notes that another payment of $21,953.27 was promised before May 15.

Nice:

• Lockport Mayor Darian Huskilson: The town of Lockport ran a big budget deficit last year mostly due to unplanned expenses related to severe winter weather. But rather than use that as an excuse, the town council took responsibility for it. They decided that since the deficit was a burden on the town that the council shouldn’t be “above the burden ourselves”, Mayor Huskilson told the CBC.

So the town council voted to give themselves a pay cut. Although it likely only saved about $2,500, as Mayor Huskilson aptly put it, “five bucks is five bucks.”

• Nova Scotia Government for Changes Made to Right to Information: Nova Scotia has finally joined the internet era and you can now file a Freedom of Information request on-line. For the average person this might be inside baseball, but Freedom of Information is an important way to keep tabs on how the government spends our money. The easier it is to get information, the easier to it is to uncover wasteful spending and make the government accountable for it.

• Halifax Councillors Russell Walker, Gloria McCluskey, Stephen Adams and Tim Outhit who all claimed no travel expenses. At a time when too often we see politicians taking every penny they can get, it’s refreshing to see some politicians leave some on the table.

In 2016, we hope more politicians follow the lead of these on the Nice List and help taxpayers by reducing waste, lowering taxes and increasing accountability.