Dingwall entitled to entitlements, arbitrator rules
David Dingwall was doing a good job running the Royal Canadian Mint when lingering hostility within the federal Liberal party forced him to resign, according to an independent report released Wednesday.
The report by arbitrator George Adams upheld a $417,780 severance payment the former Liberal cabinet minister received in February, along with a $42,010 annual pension.
- FROM FEB. 2, 2006: Dingwall receives $417,780 in severance for Mint ouster
"He had performed his job well regardless of any perceived allegiances … He was entitled to [the federal government's] rational support when serious charges concerning his expenditures were made against him."
Dingwall's leadership at the Mint, a Crown corporation that manufactures Canada's coins and paper currency, came under question as former prime minister Paul Martin struggled to keep his minority government alive in September 2005.
Then in opposition, Stephen Harper's Conservatives accused Dingwall of racking up $730,000 in expenses.
In fact, an audit of the expenses later found that more than 70 per cent of them were incurred by other employees in Dingwall's office at the Mint, and that all the payments had been properly approved, Adams' report said.
- FROM OCT. 19, 2005: Dingwall says expenses 'falsely reported'
The former Nova Scotia MP, who held a Cape Breton riding for 17 years, had been given "substantial performance awards" for turning a money-losing organization into one that had a pre-tax profit of $15.9 million in 2004.
Yet nobody from the Martin administration was prepared to go to bat for Dingwall in the firestorm that erupted over the expenses, the arbitrator found.
Dingwall received one phone call from John McCallum, the minister responsible for the Mint, "berating him for having to deal with an expense-related issue at such a delicate time."
The Clerk of the Privy Council also called to pass on a message about the government's displeasure.
"Dingwall is a very experienced politician," Adams wrote. "In light of these conversations and given his association with former prime minister Chr¿tien, he now understood there would be no support from the government regardless of the complete absence of wrongdoing on his part."
- FROM SEPT. 28, 2005: Mint head Dingwall resigns, wants to clear his name
"Several former Chrétien cabinet ministers had lost their jobs and were involved in very public (and expensive) litigation. No one disagreed with his assessment that he was next," the report said.
The federal government "subsequently failed to honour the arrangement, giving rise to the instant dispute and this arbitration," Adams wrote.
The arbitrator ruled in his favour, noting that Dingwall had not worked since leaving the Mint "and has no prospects for other work."
In the midst of the controversy over his resignation and compensation package, Dingwall drew the scorn of opposition parties when he told a Commons committee: "I'm entitled to my entitlements."
Harper's party picked up the phrase and used it repeatedly as an example of Liberal arrogance during the campaign leading up to the Jan. 23 general election.