Department releases nominee program bonus and trip totals TERESA WRIGHT The Guardian
Almost $700,000 in immigrant money was paid out in bonuses and for multiple trips to Hong Kong and Dubai for employees of the Crown corporation that administered the Provincial Nominee Program, according to numbers revealed by the department.
These amounts were tabled in the legislature last week at the request of the Opposition.
The employees of Island Investment Development Inc. (IIDI) were paid the bonuses in recompense for overtime they worked while processing 1,877 PNP applications between March and Sept. 2 of this year. The trips were taken to facilitate more interviews with potential PNP immigrants.
But these bonuses and trips have become a hot topic among many Island residents and in the legislature over the last few weeks. That's why Opposition MLA Mike Currie wanted the exact amounts paid to the IIDI employees and exactly how much was spent on the interview missions overseas.
Currie said he was shocked to see IIDI staff were sent on eight week-long interview trips to China and Dubai between April 26 and July 30. These trips cost almost half a million dollars altogether.
This money came from the $2,500 interview fees charged to each potential PNP immigrant during the overseas interviews. Over $1 million was collected through these interviews.
Innovation Minister Richard Brown says he believes the total $424,684 spent on the interview trips was money well spent because it brought more immigrants to P.E.I.
“If we didn’t go to those areas to interview (the immigrants), we wouldn’t have been able to get the applications through,” Brown told The Guardian.
That’s because the federal government had informed the provinces a few months earlier it was changing the regulations on Sept. 2 for all provincial nominee programs. These changes essentially shut down P.E.I.’s immigrant partner program.
Since the PNP requires a face-to-face interview for nomination, travelling to the countries to interview applicants saved those potential P.E.I. immigrants the time it would take them to apply for a visa to come to the Island for the interview, Brown said.
“It would take months to get their visas and by Sept. 2 we had to have our nomination papers into the embassy, we had to have the interview done, so we went to them.”
But Currie, who was the former minister in charge of the PNP under the Pat Binns Conservative government, said he believes this goes against the whole spirit of why that interview was included as part of the process.
“The visit (to P.E.I.) was important, it was part of the spirit of the agreement with the federal government — it encouraged (potential immigrants) to want to come to P.E.I.,” Currie said. “It appears to me what they have done, they said, ‘Heck, you’re cancelling my agreement, I’m going for the money’.”
But Brown said he had to push as many applications through before the Sept. 2 deadline because the new agreement costs significantly more for immigrants to access the PNP for citizenship.
“If we were forcing them to come to P.E.I. first we would have 1,000 less immigrants. And I need to get our population up,” Brown said.
“I know (Currie) is saying, ‘Maybe he should have went with less.’ But that’s easy for him to say. We’ve got a declining population. I have a great concern about the declining population and the decision was made to go out and nominate as many immigrants as we could.”
The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) offered Canadian visas to immigrants who invested $200,000 into an Island company. It was established to encourage more immigration directly to the provinces.
The program has become highly controversial over the past few months as questions have been raised about which Island business owners benefitted from the funds raised and why so many applications were done in the last six months before the program ended.
The provincial auditor general is currently investigating the program.
By the numbers:
Island Investment Development Corporation paid out $211,000 in bonuses to employees for processing PNP applications.
Here’s how that amount breaks down:
— Three directors received $19,000 each;
— Ten program officers received $9,500 each;
— Three administrative assistants received $9,500 each;
— A financial analyst received $9,500;
—A program co-ordinator received $9,500;
— A promotion and program officer received $9,500;
— One program officer received $2,000, but only received this little because this staff member left in July, prior to when most of the bonuses were paid out.
The money paid out in these bonuses was collected from a $2,500 fee charged to immigrants who had their PNP interviews conducted overseas.
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PEIdevil from Chtown, PE writes: 'I need to get our population up,' Brown said.
Oh give me a friggin break. Richard, you're looking more the part of jester every day.
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JD from PE writes: It just reeks more and more with every disgusting revelation.
It appears without a doubt that the Ghiz Government just doesn't get the idea that this program is so wrong on so many levels.
Not only do the Mounties need to brought but also some people to teach this Government the difference between Right & Wrong.
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petr from pei writes: Directors earning 6333.33 each in bonuses-these people are already pulling in big salaries-shame on them! I feel bad for these immigrants who were getting ripped all along!
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C. Little from PE writes: So how is this head-tax any more legal or ethical than previous head-taxes? Someday the Queen will be apologizing to these immigrants and we’ll be refunding their money—especially as the resulting embarrassment of riches appears to have led to further unethical actions, mismanagement, and excess.
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wondering about it from pei writes: Makes perfect sense, whats all the stir about. It sounds like the immigrants covered the cost of the interviews, it didn't cost taxpayers a cent, in fact they might even have made money.
Isn't it time the opposition turned to issues that mean something instead of taking a lead role in the soap opera that is the legislature.
The island has real problems and real issues that need to be addressed. But all parties including the media must find it more fun to be involved in issues that are barely a step above what is found in the National Inquirer .
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philip ontakos from PE writes: What a joke, people given bonuses to simply to their job. I can understand this sort of thing in private sector, but not public. EVERYONE involved should be ashamed of themselves.
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Confused on Priorities from Chtn, PE writes: These beaurocrats were just doing their jobs. If anyone was asked to work extreme hours to accomplish a task, when they are a salaried employee, it is likely that you would want some sort of compensation...other than an attaboy , and pat on the back. As long as these monies came out of the PNP proceeds I don't see the issue with paying bonuses to hard working government employees.
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Melody Bernard from PE writes: Call it crazy but isn't that what immigration is all about; you actually go to the place you want citizenship in? Buying your way into the country is wrong and so are bonuses to public officials. Richard Brown doesn't seem to understand either concept. I leave out the Innovation Minister before Brown's name deliberately since there seems to be nothing innovative or ministerial about this whole exploitation experiment.
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D from PE writes: I agree that declining population is a problem, however what is the real benefit of 99% of these immigrants leave after one year? Is the cost still justified? What is being done to make them want to stay past one year? Do the people of PEI know how lonely and how much discrimination they face every day here on PEI? This is not the PEI way, this is not the Canadian way, this is nothing more than a Chinese Head Tax.
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greg from kingston, pei writes: question to Mr. Brown,were these 20 employees not paid the overtime they deserve for their jobs? I know we have a declining population but is it wise to put the burden on Island taxpayers? Maybe it is because of these taxes our population isn t growing.
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Open government when? from Charlottetown, PEI writes: This story of extra spending money while traveling in Asia, is only a symbol of the kind of corrupt practices that was going with this program. We need open government but, instead, this is what we get. Both parties seem to see the government as a way to create wealth for private individuals and their interlocking corporations. There must be a better way. Little wonder that real issues are never addressed.
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speedy from PE writes: Sickening, what our government did.
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BeingMislead from PE writes: I am constantly coming across this statement in the media:
The Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) offered Canadian visas to immigrants who invested $200,000 into an Island company.
In actuality, the Island company only receives $35k - $45k, of the $200k invested. The lion's share goes to intermediaries, lawyers, etc.
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Hard to Believe from PEI writes: Oh my god i don't believe this..Here is all this money spent on this program.We have farmers,fishermen fighting to get some funds to help them and then you have other people going to their jobs working their butts off for low wages,also people who are on disabilty struggling with the small pensions they get....people on this island are trying to survive with the high oil prces and the goverment goes and pays out this amount of money to get immigrants to the island.We don't need anymore immgrants being supplied with homes,jobs,cars and whatever else they get.The population wouldn't be down if there was work here for them so they all leave the island to go out west to make money....give them jobs here and your population might start going up...WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN PEOPLE FIRST!!!!
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Doug Park from PE writes: Since we are revealing how much each government worker received why not tell how much the individual law firms, accounting offices, journalists and elected officials received. I'd be more interested in that considering these workers were just doing as instructed. This other group were out seeking this injustice.
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JP from PE writes: I hope that the public accounts committee or the Auditor General gets to the bottom of just how much this program was costing to run. I assume that these civil servants were also getting overtime. Let's not forget travel costs, etc.
I think the PNP program could & should be a good one. The idea behind it should be that immigrants invest in a local company and take a role in it thereby gaining useful Canadian work experience. The reason the Feds put the screws on the PEI program was that our program didn't require the immigrant get involved in the company so it basically allowed affluent immigrants to buy their way into the country. While this alone is ethically quite questionable, I think that Islanders (both born Islanders and immigrants) deserve to know who was benefitting from this program, if there was abuse of it by some business owners who were able to access too many units, if Brooke MacMillan was able to access units while he was still Deputy Minister, what politicans accessed the program and if it was before or after they took office, how many immigrants have actually stayed in PEI, and if civil servants administering the program were overly compensated for administering the program.
When this story first hit the news I thought that it was likely just bad optics, now there are so many questions that I'm really starting to support a more indepth investigation. If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...
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pingu from ON writes: Now that the bureaucrats are getting blamed, let's get to the real story:
1- How much were accountants and lawyers charging to process an application?
2- How much of this money was finding its way back into political hands?
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Jim from pe writes: If they can afford 200K they can afford 4K to visit here for an interview and if they want to throw 200K away then they would not have donated the money to the pei govt in the first place.
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ben barr from cornwall, pei writes: it is called pay as you go. Give me your rich, not the poor.
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philip ontakos from PE writes: The other thing to remember is these payments were 'Bonuses'. These people worked long hours but i bet they were paid for them in wages, or time in lieu. Did you ever hear of a government employee working overtime and not expecting to get paid a regular wage? WHAT A JOKE.
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How many from pe writes: It would be nice for Richard to provide a statistic on how many of these people are currently residing on PEI as he keeps suggesting each immagrant in the program comes and stays based on his numbers.
We know in truth the number one reason why the immagrants are in this program is for their children to be Canadian citizens so they will have access to cheaper university and a green card!
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chester Feilds from Charlottetown, PEI writes: I understand the confusion on most on the issue at hand here. What with all the Media hype and political spin put to this story. A couple of points that I think are worth noting here. None of this money came out of the Tax Payers of PEI, second who cares if these employees were given bonuses, these people were asked to travel not to cornwall, but to the other side of the world to conduct interviews, and were away from their families for extended period of times on more than one occassion. Not only should they get a bonus I wonder was it enough. They are employee's who are doing a job as directed by their superiors. I am glad they were compensated for their time and effort on the other side of the world. Furthermore, if people are going to demand information, let's find out how many current Minister's and present and past Deputy Minister's were awarded Units while this Government was in Office. Never mind the Bonuses, as a matter of fact that by paying these employees bonuses may have been the only thing they did do right.
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tax payer from charlottetown, pei writes: This bonuses did not cost the taxpayers any money because the potential immigrants paid for the them. The question here is how ethical was the program run. I would say not very ethical at all. The lawyers, accountants and politicians used the situation to line their pockets and the pockets of their friends. The taxpayers are probably on the hook for all the travel costs plus all the overtime paid.
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Time to step back from PEI writes: I cannot believe the antics of this provincial government. They apparently think they are above the law...need I mention the Rory Beck incident again. Wow....when is this going to end?!
Richard Brown makes comments like we have to get our population up...come on....if we put the money this government has been wasting into job enhancement and our local industries then maybe our young men and women wouldn't be leaving for the west coast to find employment. The priorities of this government are self serving to say the least. We have people living in the streets, seniors that can't afford heat or medications they need but we NEED more immigrants to boost our population! Islanders it is time to give your heads a shake and say enough is enough.
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philip ontakos from PE writes: Who cares if nothing came out of the taxpayers pockets?? The fact is, that money should have went to places that needed it most. I could think of 100 different places PEI could use that money. A Government Employees pocket isn't one of them. How about helping out families in need for the holidays? How about giving families in need a break on heating costs? Imagine what you could do with that kind of money and a little compassion!
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Melody Bernard from PE writes: Saying this program did not cost PEI taxpayers anything is untrue. The government is the people. How a government acts reflects upon all its citizens. A government is the will of the people and what they deem acceptable or in this case unacceptable.
The way these disadvantaged people were treated may not have cost me in dollars however our reputation as a gentle province should never be uttered again if we as people do not speak out against it. Shame on you people (who probably accessed funds) to trivialize this whole matter to dollars.
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JP from PE writes: It doesn't make me feel any better that these bonuses came from the immigrant investors' interview fees. Frankly, I think it makes it worse. What would we call it if the Public Works department was taking interview fees from prospective contractors and giving that money to department employees as bonuses? These immigrants were already paying $200K to access the program and get into Canada. Then we started asking an extra $2500 as an interview fee to make sure we could process their applications before the end of the program. If government were treating Islanders that way we would be outraged.
Government employees are well paid and if these employees were working overtime then I am assuming that they were paid overtime just like any other government employee.
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David from PE writes: It did cost the taxpayers millions of dollars.
Who paid the employees salaries? Who paid the travel costs?
Who will pay the money back to the Immigrant when they are rejected and the Business can not?
Now taxpayers dollars right.
Well any money that is received by the Government BECOMES property of the taxpayer.
The questions we should be asking is just who handles these secret fund of money that the Government collects from the Immigrants and can all islanders get an accounting of how these accounts are managed and what is done with this money.
Is it a secret slush fund? Is this money the Minister of Tourism spoke of when she said she find the money outside of the taxpayer?
What this Government needs to do is explain all the hills and valleys of this program plus who handles the money on behalf of the taxpayer.
The problem I have been hearing is that there is so many people sucking money from the Immigrant that is is quickly becoming a scam.
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Don't believe the Hype from PE writes: This matter is about dollars. Plain and simple. If it were about reputation, we would be crying for the heads of the past 3-4 governments going back 20 some odd years. This program ran for years under the conservatives. Do you think Polar Foods helped our reputation as a gentle island. No, this is money plain and simple.
What about the immigrants? WHO CARES! They were buying their way on a fast track past immigration. Their choice. And they had more money than most of us to do it with. I don't care which lawyers and accountants lined their pocket as long as they all had equal access to do so. I am 100% against patronage.
Phillip Ontakos, states the money could have gone to better places like needy families. Actually, this would have been worse. The fee was charged to conduct interviews abroad, not to raise money for the tax coffers. And the other money was to invest in island business. Had they redirected to home heating subsidies or lower income, that would be embezzlement.
Now here are the real problems with the program:
1) Why should anyone be able to buy their way into the country? If we need to get our population up, do something to keep people here. Don't just let islanders move away and fill up on immigrants.
2) Why break or change the rules. They were supposed to come here for the interview. That was part of their end of the deal. IF they can't get their Visas and get her, too bad about them.
3) Did Ministers or Deputy Minister receive fund while in office not following the same steps as everyone else. The big question here is preferential treatment. IF they were treated the smae as everyone else, and were not admistering the program at the time, no problem. It seems more and more like this was not the case.
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Scarce from PEI writes: An observation-- The presence of immigrants seemed to be abundant throuhout the summer. People were learning to drive, in the malls, etc. Now that is colder, they seem to have gone.. maybe to Toronto.
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Bev from P.E.I. writes: I am so grateful we have a new saviour in our mist. It would be a nice change for government to come up with inovative ideas for employment for our young people so they can stay home where they want to be. Give me a break. This goes to show how stupid the government thinks we are here on P.E.I. It is for Mr. Brown to resign and stop making a fool of himself. He is a puppet on a string taking the fall for a money grab of this government.
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dirty dirty dirty from p writes: its all shades of dirty .......
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Comparisons... from pei writes: Many people bring up Polar Foods, a terrible and corrupt(in appearance at least)debacle. It should have been investigated by the RCMP and wasn’t. Let’s not make the same mistake again. Investigate this in a real way with an arm’s length agency.
And this is worse than Polar Foods, the dollar-figures are much larger and it is an international matter.
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lame brain doodling from charlottetown, pei writes: With regard to the decrease in population - could this have anything to do with couples deciding to have only one or two children in the last number of years because that is all they can provide for ? Could it have anything to do with the number of people that were forced to move away in order to make a decent living ? Could it have anything to do with a sub-standard environment that sees our people in their sixties and even younger dying on a larger scale than ever before ? One set of my grandparents had eleven children, the other set had thirteen. Do you think the farming and fishing today can provide for that many children ? With the extra dollars flowing in from the invester fund I can't help but wonder why those dollars were never used to invest in farming and fishing. Or, at least, if they were there is certainly no mention of it.
Those two, farming and fishing, were the backbone of PEI. They could be again with clear-thinking politicians and the right government moves. When we have our own people moving off island to get a decent wage why in heaven's name would the government think it best to replace those islanders with immigrants rather than give priority to ways and means of keeping our own at home ? The government could even take a close look at education here and its excessive costs passed on to the parents. Many children are fortunate to have even one pair of runners. Now the schools demand two or more pair. So many parents hard put to keep up with the costs of education for their children and I have always failed to see what several pairs of runners have to do with education other than keeping gym floors from being scratched up. If the Island can't support its own, how in hades do they plan to support all those immigrants ? I believe our government should be working on plans for farming, fishing and education rather than immigration.
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Scott from PEI writes: I think Richard Brown should be ousted. GreenIsle wouldn't except the stuff that comes out of his mouth.
Our government is no different then a non-democratic government. It is like a dictatorship, communism or some socialist republic. The government does what they want, when they want and there is really nothing we can do about it. Doesn't matter which party gets in, there will a scandal of some sort. There seems to be no democratic component except the election itself. Which as we can see is not really up to us anyway; non-confidence / coalition situation that is on the go now.
When I learned of politics in school I remember hearing that it was the Peoples Government. It seems that can better be described as the Government's People (us). Politics is more about making money for the politians than it is about running the country. It is a business, a corrupt business. Along the lines of Mofia with all of its racketeering. We pay them money to protect us and they do not, really. The justice system is a mockery. The Health system is in ruins. The social system has a very long way to go before it is anywhere near good. The education, I do not know, but I think it is hurting too. Over all, I would say the Government is not working as it should. Politians get quite wealthy, along with their friends and families and busines ties. While the people are sold-out. It is not about the country Canada or Citizens of Canada, it is about the money.
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Invest in Islanders from PEI writes: I wonder why the government does not understand the benefits of investing in their own residents to increase the Island Population. There could be additional financial support to parents of young children which would in turn increase the annual birth rate on PEI (and the population). Quebec is a good example of how a province invests in their own families to grow the population. It is time to also invest in Island Families.
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J.P. from Alberta writes: I think Ms Teresa Wright is doing a fantastic job keeping the PEI government honest. I have a vested interest in the Island and it's good to see that there are people holding it's government accountable. We need more reporters like her. Keep up the good work Ms Wright!
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Give Me a Break from PE writes: I think people are getting caught up in a non-existent scandal.
1. Over $400 million was brought into the PEI economy from this program.
2. In order to accomplish this the government got some of their employees to go to the other side of the world away from their families for weeks at a time.
3. These employees were paid a bonus (out of the proceeds from the program)for their extra time and their giving up of their summer to help.
I don't see where the scandal is. The only things people should have any questions about is
a) whether its ethical to allow people to buy citizenship
b) whether any politicians used their influence to circumvent any rules to allow people/companies to receive investor funds when they shouldn't have been allowed.
That's it. All in all, even if there were some politics being played, this program is a HUGE boost to the Island economy. Think of the big picture people.
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Sad from PEI writes: This a a story that is heartbreaking about people moving here to the Island. I have met a lady who moved here from England with her husband and 4 young children. They had gone to a trade show in England sponsered by PEI. They were told there are lots of jobs. They moved, found jobs that lasted until last month. Now they have been laid off. As non-residents, theyare not entitled to UIC or CPP even though they were both deducted. Right now they are trying to raise enough money from their family and friends in England to move back. They have repeatled called Richard's dept and nothing can be done. Hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.
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Charlie o from pe writes: If the current Government had maintained the rules prior to April 1st then the Feds wouldn`t have shut the program down.
The Ministers` cry that we are losing population is not creditable as we are losing university grads and skilled workers because their are no jobs ,Minister. Does anyone think that these immigrants are going to stay on PEI.
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David from PE writes: Give me a Break....
You are quite correct we should be thinking of the big Picture.
First &Foremost is the large stain of corruption and scandal this is painting on PEI and Canada.
Secondly the stain of Greed we are seeing from our Government Members and Senior Government Officials.
Thirdly, Just where did the $400 Million go? Do we see an great economic impact to this $400 Million. This amount is similar in size to what was spent in the 70's on the Comprehensive Development Plan. Do we see anything similar to that. NO..
Fourth..What about the stain of corruption we are seing when elected Members of a Governmnet are also breaking the rules and getting this money no Matter what Ghiz says this is very wrong.
You are quite right Give me Break...The big picture is so much more clear. Maybe now that the big picture is clear this Governmnet will do t5he Honourable thing and either call in the RCMP to conduct a full and Public review and investigation or failing that than maybe this Governmnet should resign and call an election and lets ask islanders how they feel about this scandal.
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rachel from pei writes: I work for the government. I give up every second christmas with my family, and receive very little vacation in the summer. I have never received bonus for the hard work I do or time I missed with my family. I think that if the government is going to reward some of their employees for their hard work,maybe theyshould reward all of their hard working employees. What do you think Premier Ghiz?
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rollingindoe from PEI writes: Gov. workers work 37.5 hours paid.. after that it's overtime. Maybe if they actually worked those hours they wouldn't need bonus.. hmmm ya as you see in all gov. departments. their either on the phone with personal calls, checking out ads for sale for cheap, taking hour long lunch breaks., chatting on facebook.. oh where shall i stop.. they make at least 14 bucks a hour. How often do you see the little guy making 8 get overtime maybe once in a blue moon after working 55 hours a week and they don't work 4 days on or just mon to fri either. !
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