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Toronto’s ombudsman defended attending a conference in Azerbaijan at taxpayers’ expense during a line by line review of her budget on Thursday.

“You think that benefits Toronto residents at all?” Councillor Doug Ford asked Fiona Crean during a meeting of the budget committee.

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“I do, absolutely,” said Ms. Crean, who was a keynote speaker at the Eurasian Ombudsman Conference earlier this year.

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She said the conference covered attendance fees, ground transportation and hotel, and she expensed the $1,922.25 flight. Azerbaijan, a young democracy, “was looking to the West for a number of folks to come and assist them in the development and continuation of their independent oversight officers,” said Ms. Crean.

“So, it’s the responsibility of the taxpayers of Toronto to make sure Azerbaijan gets up and running?” asked Mr. Ford.

The Ombudsman also told the budget committee she wants to hire another investigator to keep up with a growing volume of complaints and increasingly complex probes into systemic issues in the public service.

National Post

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