Looks like David Dingwall's expenses are on the up and up (except for a couple thousand dollars). It just doesn't make sense that he was in such a hurry to resign. Especially since you lose severance when you resign. Unless of course that was part of the deal he reached with PM Martin.
Here is an idea to get around the severance - reinstate him as head of the Mint.
Update: I went through my archives to see if I said anything that I needed to retract in light of the audit of David Dingwall's expenses. (In my best NFL referee voice) Upon further review my problem with the Dingwall affair was paying a severance to someone who resigned. I still have this problem. The play stands as called.
Update II: I agree with Greg Weston:
...All of which brings us back to the one aspect of the Dingwall affair that is most causing taxpayers' blood to boil: Severance.
Somehow, average folk just can't seem to square the idea that after so much indulgence at public expense, Dingwall should now get a golden handshake to boot.
On that front, the audit changes nothing.
In the absence of fraud or other possible firing offences -- the audit found none -- Dingwall's severance remains entirely an issue of whether he quit or was pushed.
Either way, even by Dingwall's account, he is only owed a maximum of a few months' pay and nothing close to the oft-quoted $500,000 it would cost to buy out the rest of his appointment.
The day Dingwall resigned a month ago, he issued a statement saying he had told his family and friends over the summer: "I would more than likely be leaving my position as CEO (of the mint) some time over the next number of months in order to pursue a number of projects."
However, he added, given the media flap over his expenses and previous lobbying activities, "rather than wait the few months to make the move to the next stage of my life, I am taking this opportunity to leave." There we have it, in his own words.
If Dingwall simply quit his job without pressure from the Martin government, he is legally entitled to severance of roughly zero.
If, as is more likely, the Liberals wanted to cut Dingwall loose and pushed him out the door, by his own admission he left only a "few months" before he was ready.
Ergo, if Dingwall wanted to take his case to court, the most he might get is a few months' pay.
