Air travel tab for MPs’ spouses: $2.2M
Taxpayer group wants details to prove all is ‘on the up and up’
OTTAWA—Taxpayers spent $2.2 million flying MPs’ spouses and $554,000 flying their children around the country last year, according to the most recent annual MP expense report.
Taxpayer watchdog groups say there should be more transparency around such spending, and a major federal public sector union head is lambasting the free travel, arguing that unionized public servants don’t get to bring their spouses along when they travel.
The rules, set by an allparty committee of MPs, allow each member of Parliament to designate one person — usually, but not always, a spouse — with whom they can share their “travel points,” which allow them to take free flights around the country.
The report doesn’t break down individual trips, so it’s not possible to know in each case where individual MPs went with their designated travellers, but most of the money was spent flying MPs and their spouses back and forth between Ottawa and their ridings.
Former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae, who had the largest claim, travelled widely with his wife, Arlene Perly Rae, racking up $56,919.57 in charges for 20 return trips from Toronto to Ottawa and four trips to other Canadian destinations.
Rae said in an email that the Liberal party covered political trips, but trips “that involved work as MP and interim leader” were covered from his MP budget.
“Being leader of the third party is tough enough without having to do it alone!” he wrote. “The purpose of the designated traveller allotment is to show Parliament is a family-friendly place, and a political life is not necessarily a recipe for travelling far and wide alone. End of story.”
The MP with the secondhighest spousal travel expense was Richard Harris, Conservative MP for the B.C. riding of Cariboo — Prince George, whose spouse, Anne Phillips, took eight trips to Ottawa and five elsewhere in Canada at a cost of$51,773.63. Harris did not respond to requests for comment.
No. 3 was Vancouver East NDP MP Libby Davies, whose spouse, Kimberley Elliott, took nine trips to Ottawa and six to other destinations in Canada, which cost $49,618.09.
“Because of personal health concerns, my partner has travelled with me more regularly than in the past,” Davies said in an email. Trips to other destinations were necessary because of Davies’ role as health critic, said NDP spokesman MarcAndre Viau.
Health Minister Rona Ambrose, whose spouse is former rodeo rider and current Toronto stock market guru J.P. Veitch, spent $45,476.45 to fly Veitch to Ambrose’s Edmonton riding or Ottawa 11 times, and to accompany the minister on other trips eight times.
“The minister’s partner often spends time with her in Ottawa, which she is incredibly grateful for,” said a statement from her office. Minister Ambrose has the utmost respect for taxpayers’ dollars. The minister has a busy travel schedule between Ottawa and her riding of Edmonton — Spruce Grove.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s spouse, Laureen, took nine trips to the riding and three other trips, worth a total of $34,107.33, the 10th highest amount of spousal travel of all 308 MPs. Taxpayers paid $17,144.33 to fly the Harpers’ two children back and forth to Calgary nine times, and for one trip elsewhere in the country.
“These expenses reflect the fact that the prime minister’s ‘designated traveller’ must fly in order to get to and from the riding in Calgary,” said communications director Jason MacDonald in an email.
The trips covered by his MP account do not include trips on government aircraft, when the expenses for spouse and children were covered by the government.
Gary Corbett, president of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, said MPs should tighten their belts, arguing government cuts are making it harder for public servants — who don’t get to bring their spouses on trips — to do their jobs.
“I’m just blown away that this kind of money is just out there,” he said. “I’m concerned. If they’re trying to cut costs by cutting the public service they should be cutting costs there, too.”
The information about spending on travel is more detailed than in previous years, a response from the Commons’ all-party board of internal economy to calls for greater openness.
Gregory Thomas, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said there’s not enough detail “so we have to take these people’s word that everything is on the up and up.”