Connect with us

Business

Federal bureaucrats spend $76,000 a month renting art taxpayers have already bought

Published

5 minute read

From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

By Ryan Thorpe

“Can someone in government explain why taxpayers are being sent a bill so bureaucrats can decorate their offices with artwork that taxpayers have already bought and paid for?”

When bureaucrats hang art in their offices, taxpayers are on the hook – twice.

First, the government uses tax dollars to purchase artwork for its Art Bank. Then bureaucrats rent out that artwork and send the bill to taxpayers.

And that art bill comes to millions of dollars.

“Can someone in government explain why taxpayers are being sent a bill so bureaucrats can decorate their offices with artwork that taxpayers have already bought and paid for?” asked Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “This is an outrageous waste of money and, to add insult to injury, the government is double billing taxpayers for artwork we’ll never see.”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation obtained access-to-information records detailing all art rentals made by federal departments and agencies from the Canada Council for the Arts’ Art Bank between January 2016 and July 2024.

During that time, federal departments and agencies racked up $7,808,827 in art rentals.

That means since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power, federal bureaucrats have been spending an average of $76,000 a month renting artwork for their offices.

“Every month, federal bureaucrats spend more money renting art than what the average Canadian earns in an entire year,” Terrazzano said. “It’s amazing that we need to say this, but maybe these bureaucrats could ease up at the taxpayer-funded Art Bank when record numbers of Canadians are lined up at food banks.”

Last year, the average Canadian worker made less than $70,000, according to data from Statistics Canada. In March 2024, Canada saw a record high two million visits to food banks, according to Food Banks Canada.

Federal departments and agencies made 1,445 rentals from the Art Bank between January 2016 and July 2024, according to the records.

The highest single rental came in April 2020, when a federal department or agency expensed $120,240 in artwork to taxpayers.

The records obtained by the CTF do not specify which federal departments or agencies expensed the art rentals.

The Art Bank contains more than 17,000 works of art from more than 3,000 artists, according to the CCA website.

“The Art Bank has the largest collection of contemporary Canadian art anywhere,” according to the CCA. “It houses paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs and prints by emerging and established artists.”

The CCA is a federal Crown corporation, which dishes out hundreds of millions in grants to artists and arts organizations every year. In 2023-24, CCA grants totalled more than $300 million.

In 2022-23, the CCA received $423 million in federal funding, which accounts for about 90 per cent of the agency’s revenue.

So taxpayers not only foot the bill for this artwork through parliamentary appropriations to the CCA, but also get hit with a secondary expense when that artwork is later rented by a federal department or agency.

In Budget 2023, the government promised to find savings in the Crown corporations.

“The government will also work with federal Crown corporations to ensure they achieve comparable spending reductions, which would account for an estimated $1.3 billion over four years,” according to Budget 2023.

“Bureaucrats billing taxpayers $76,000 a month in art rentals is outrageous at the best of times, but with the government more than $1 trillion in debt and so many Canadians struggling, it’s utterly inexcusable,” Terrazzano said. “The government said it would find savings at Crown corporations, so defunding the Canada Council for the Arts is a perfect place to start.”

Federal departments and agencies expensing art rentals isn’t the only way taxpayers are hit with big bills so government officials can decorate their offices.

In July 2023, the CTF reported 52 Canadian Senators expensed $514,616 in art rentals to taxpayers since 2016.

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

Business

Exposing Global Affairs Canada’s crazy spending spree

Published on

From the Canadian Taxpayers Association

By Franco Terrazzano

$1,700 on Lesbian Pirates! musical $3,900 for a “frank discussion” of “how to do a proper land acknowledgment” Millions on vacant land in Africa and properties in Afghanistan we abandoned to the Taliban $7,500 to promote DEI at music festival in Estonia $12,000 so seniors in other countries could talk about their sex lives $7.2 million for “gender-responsive systems approach to universal healthcare in the Philippines” $13,000 for an Oscars party in LA $8,800 for a show called “whose jizz is this” And so much more…

Continue Reading

Addictions

Calls for Public Inquiry Into BC Health Ministry Opioid Dealing Corruption

Published on

Sam Cooper

The leaked audit shows from 2022 to 2024, a staggering 22,418,000 doses of opioids were prescribed by doctors and pharmacists to approximately 5,000 clients in B.C., including fentanyl patches.

A confidential investigation by British Columbia’s Ministry of Health, Financial Operations and Audit Branch has uncovered explosive allegations of fraud, abuse, and organized crime infiltration within PharmaCare’s prescribed opioid alternatives program. Internal audit findings, obtained by The Bureau, suggest that millions of taxpayer dollars are being diverted into illicit drug trafficking networks rather than serving harm reduction efforts.

The leaked documents include photographs from vehicle searches that show collections of fentanyl patches and Dilaudid (hydromorphone) apparently packaged for resale after being stolen from the taxpayer-funded “safer supply” program. This program expanded dramatically following a federal law change implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in 2020, which broadened circumstances in which pharmacy staff could dispense opioids, according to the document’s evidence.

“Prior to March 17, 2020, only pharmacists in BC were permitted to deliver [addiction therapy treatment] drugs,” the audit says.

B.C.’s safer supply program was launched in March 2020 as a response to the opioid overdose crisis, declared in 2016. It allows people with opioid-use disorder to receive prescribed drugs to be used on-site or taken away for later use.

The Special Investigations Unit and PharmaCare Audit Intelligence team identified a disturbing link between doctors, pharmacists, assisted living residences, and organized crime, where prescription opioids meant to replace illicit drugs are instead being diverted, sold, and trafficked at scale.

“A significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists are not being consumed by their intended recipients,” the document states.

It suggests that financial incentives have created a business model for organized crime, asserting that “prescribed alternatives (safe supply opioids) are trafficked provincially, nationally, and internationally,” and that “proceeds of fraud” are being used to pay incentives to doctors, pharmacists, and intermediaries.

BC Conservative critic Elenore Sturko, a former RCMP officer, began raising concerns about the program two years ago after hearing anecdotes about prescribed opioids being trafficked. She asserts that the program is a failure in public policy and insists that Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry be dismissed for having “denied and downplayed” problems as they emerged. Sturko also argues that B.C. must change its drug policy in light of U.S. President Donald Trump’s stance linking the trafficking of fentanyl and other opioids to potential trade sanctions against Canada.

The document shows that PharmaCare’s dispensing fee loophole has incentivized pharmacies to maximize billings per patient, with some locations charging up to $11,000 per patient per year—compared to just $120 in normal cases.

Perhaps most alarming is the deep infiltration of B.C.’s safer supply program by criminal networks. The Ministry of Health report lists “Gang Members/Organized Crime” as key players in the prescription drug pipeline, which includes “Doctors, pharmacies, and assisted living residences.”

This revelation confirms long-standing fears that B.C.’s “safe supply” policy—originally designed to prevent deaths from contaminated street drugs—is instead sometimes supplying criminal organizations with pharmaceutical-grade opioids.

The leaked audit shows from 2022 to 2024, a staggering 22,418,000 doses of opioids were prescribed by doctors and pharmacists to approximately 5,000 clients in B.C., including fentanyl patches.

Beyond organized crime’s direct involvement, pharmacies themselves have exploited regulatory gaps to generate massive profits from PharmaCare’s policies:

  • Pharmacies offer kickbacks to doctors, housing staff, and medical professionals to steer patients toward specific locations.
  • Financial incentives fuel fraud, with multiple investigations identifying 60+ pharmacies offering incentives to clients.
  • Non-health professionals, including housing staff, are witnessing OAT (opioid agonist treatment) dosing, violating patient safety protocols.

The Bureau is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

For the full experience, please upgrade your subscription and support a public interest startup. We break international stories and this requires elite expertise, time and legal costs.

Continue Reading

Trending

X