社论转载：你会花12万6千6百69块钱搬家吗？联邦自由党会！

乱花纳税人钱的丑闻就像无法预测的生长周期一样，你无法预测它的生和死。每个丑闻都会被百姓区别对待。

Political expense scandals are unpredictable organisms. They have lives of their own.

 

比方说前保守党内阁部长小田吧！花了16块加元买了一杯橘子汁就让她丢了乌纱帽。而对于现任的联邦自由党环保部长玛蒂纳来说，即使在一个国际会议上花了$6,600块请人拍与选民无关的会议照片，却仍然可以保住乌纱帽。

Like former Conservative cabinet minister Bev Oda, you can see your career end because you expensed a $16 glass of orange juice. Or, like the current Environment Minister, Catherine McKenna, you can live to fight another day after blowing $6,600 on self-serving photographs of you attending a major international conference.

 

 

有时候多花点钱，哪怕花很少一笔钱，会成为你丢掉乌纱帽的原因。有的时候，当花掉的钱被还回来，或者痛哭流涕地称自己是败家子，诚恳道歉后，大家也会放你一马。老百姓究竟左什么情况下会因花钱丑闻而气得跳脚，谁也说不清。

Sometimes a spending gaffe, even a small one, is the last straw. And sometimes the world moves on after the money is repaid and the spendthrift apologizes. It isn’t easy to design an algorithm to precisely predict what will sustain the public’s outrage, or fail to.

 

不过，“环球邮报”最近还是发现了一个很不平常的政府支出。一笔总理特鲁多的两个忠实助手，主管秘书巴特持(图左)和办公室主任特尔福特(图右)的搬家费，以及$80,382.55的其他报销费用。

 

Not quite. The Globe and Mail has learned that this extraordinary expense, along with another submitted expense for $80,382.55, covered the moving costs of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s two most loyal aides, principal secretary Gerald Butts and chief of staff Katie Telford.

 

这两个高级主管都在今年从多伦多搬到渥太华，而且把他们在多伦多的房子也卖掉了。邮报得到的消息说，他们搬家费如此之高，是因为这两个特鲁多的忠实助手报销了搬家过程中的买卖房屋的费用和律师费。

Both moved from Toronto to Ottawa this year, selling their homes in the process. Sources now say the figures are so high because the two Trudeau loyalists were reimbursed for the real estate and legal fees related to the sale of their homes.

 

这可是很大一笔搬家费。总理办公室的发言人为此辩解说，这些报销费用都没有违规。

These are enormous sums. A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office has defended them on the grounds that they are in line with the “current rules.”

 

 问题是，“目前的规定”并不能就此让故事花上句号。因为我们的总理有权不在这样一个巨额搬家费，非正常的福利报销单上签字。

But the “current rules” are not the final word. The Prime Minister had the option of not signing off on such large amounts for such an unusual benefit.

 

当然，没有人会相信这两个为特鲁多工作多年的人会为了一点蝇头小利才会接受总理办公室的工作的。既然他们能把特鲁多捧上总理宝座，当然也不会回绝继续替其打工的机会的。显然不会！

And one can hardly argue that Mr. Butts and Ms. Telford, who have worked with Mr. Trudeau for years, had to be induced with economic incentives to take their jobs in the PMO. They weren’t about to say no to the opportunity to work for the man they helped elect, were they?

 

让两个既是自己下属，又是自己好友报销这么大一笔搬家费的做法显然欠思考。这可不是一杯橘子水的故事，这要比一杯橘子水严重得多！

The decision to allow two personal allies and friends to bill for such huge amounts is a demonstration of poor judgment. This is not a glass of orange juice. This is way more than that.

 

 

编注：以上是加拿大全国发行的最大日报——《环球邮报》2016年9月21日发表的社论。大中报贾宁扬编译。

Note: The Editorial was published by The Globe and Mail on September 21, 2016. Translated by Jack Jia, Chinese News.