Conservative Bernard Trottier, who unseated former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to become MP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, racked up the highest tab for sponsored travel. He and his wife Susan Schutta accepted trips to Israel and Taiwan worth a total of $19,460.
According to reports filed with the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, the trips were sponsored by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and by the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association — two of the groups that are the most active in using free travel to get the ear of MPs.
Trottier was followed by fellow Conservative MP Dean Allison whose $15,642 worth of travel included a controversial trip to Guatemala sponsored by Canadian mining giant Goldcorp. Allison, MP for the riding of Niagara West-Glanbrook, along with fellow Conservative Dave Van Kesteren, Liberal Massimo Pacetti and independent MP Bruce Hyer accepted a three-day trip via the company’s jet to see Goldcorp’s operations. The four MPs reported the trips, worth slightly more than $4,000 and three of them – Allison, Van Kesteren and Hyer – reported receiving a $50 gift from the company as well.
Allison also accepted a trip to Dakar, Senegal from the Micronutrient Initiative and to Thailand and Cambodia from World Vision.
In third place was Kevin Sorenson, Conservative MP for the Alberta riding of Crowfoot who said yes to $15,339 worth of sponsored travel – the lion’s share of it ($9,139) on a trip to Taipei, Taiwan with his son Ryan. Sorenson also accepted a $6,200 trip to Japan from the Japanese government.
Conservative MPs Patrick Brown and Russ Hiebert accepted the most sponsored trips. Brown, MP for the riding of Barrie, traveled to India, Taiwan, Tanzania and the Netherlands, trips worth a total $13,327, courtesy of governments and interest groups. Hiebert, MP for South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale, accepted trips to France, Washington D.C, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand, for a total travel tab of $7,037.
While six of the 10 MPs who racked up the most expensive air miles were Conservatives, the single most expensive trip was by a New Democrat. NDP MP François Lapointe brought his spouse Marie-Claude Gamache along on a trip to Israel last July. Together, the two racked up a tab of $11,740 – significantly higher than the amounts declared by other MPs who took similar trips to Israel.
At the other end of the spectrum, NDP MP Romeo Saganash took the least expensive trip – accepting $564.29 worth of travel and accommodations from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association to attend a human rights conference in Montreal.
While MPs typically argue the travel sponsored by foreign governments or interest groups aren’t junkets and help them learn about important international issues, in many cases MPs brought along their spouses or children. According to reports filed with the ethics commissioner, 31 of the 85 sponsored trips MPs took in 2012 included a family or staff member.
Nor is it obvious how some trips contribute to an MP’s grasp of public policy files. Last fall, Events Scotland paid for Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan and Chris Ethier to travel to Chicago, Illinois to watch the Ryder Cup men’s golf tournament, which pits the United States against Europe. The trip cost $1,011.89 in accommodation and $7,087.47 in “other” costs. By comparison, sending Duncan to Dhaka, Bangladesh for an international climate change conference cost the United Nations Development Program only $1,412.94, bringing the total value of the travel she accepted in 2012 to $9,512.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, which advocates on behalf of a number of pro-Israel Jewish Federations across Canada, was the single largest sponsor of MP travel in 2012, picking up the $129,201 tab to send 15 MPs to Israel – 10 New Democrats and five Conservatives.
The Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association, which promotes economic and trade relations with Taiwan, was the second largest sponsor, footing the $85,785 bill for 12 MPs to visit Taiwan. Ten of the 12 MPs it sponsored were Conservatives, one came from the NDP and one from the Bloc Québécois.
The charity World Vision was the third largest sponsor of travel by parliamentarians in 2012, dipping into its donations for $20,268 to send five MPs to Bangkok, Thailand and Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The goal of the trip was to visit World Vision projects that are working to combat human trafficking.
Overall, 65 of Canada’s 308 MPs accepted travel sponsored by a government or interest group worth a total of $423,926 — $259,925 in transportation, $96,224 in accommodation, $4,435 in gifts and $63,341 worth of “other” expenses.
Total sponsored travel was up slightly from the $420,192 worth of trips that 58 MPs took in 2011 but down from the $507,696 in travel that 68 MPs took in 2010.
Conservative MPs accounted for more than half the trips in 2012, accepting 46 of the 85 trips taken by MPs. However, their 54 per cent of trips was in proportion to the 53 per cent of seats the Conservatives hold in the House of Commons.
Liberal MPs took disproportionately more trips while the NDP took disproportionately fewer.
Original Article
Source: ipolitics.ca
Author: Elizabeth Thompson
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