Cue the hair toss and the “Because I’m worth it” tag line. International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda seems to think five-star hotels aren’t good enough for her. Easy to say when you’re not the one paying the bill. Wonder what she’d say to a little trip to the back benches? The view there is pretty rotten. But hey, at least it’s cheap.
It’s easy to poke fun at the Prime Minister’s Office for directing what is meant to be a government-wide austerity effort while harboring 94 staff of whom 21 make over $100,000 a year. So let’s. Then let’s think about how to spend more.
OTTAWA - Every bit of spending is on the table in a top-to-bottom review of parliamentary budgets — “everything from the cost of coffee in committee rooms to the cost of airfares,” QMI Agency has learned.
“They’re serious,” said one source. “They’re going through everything.”
Running Parliament – including the House of Commons, the Senate and the salaries of politicians and their staff – costs taxpayers about $580 million annually.
With federal departments all submitting budget-cutting scenarios of 5 to 10%, it’s believed parliamentary budgets won’t be able to escape the Conservative government’s drive toward a balanced budget.
So, any cuts could go as high as $58 million, though no decisions have been made yet.
I am always prepared to defend MPs. They have a tough job, and most of them work extremely hard at it. They certainly put in long hours – much longer than most Canadians. Most of them also have to travel great distances between their riding and Ottawa. So yes, this all costs money, and we shouldn’t expect MPs to work this hard without proper compensation. But hey, everyone can find 5-10% in potential cuts, and MPs shouldn’t be exempt from what I hope will be across-the-board spending cuts.
We have ANOTHER former political aide to Gilles Duceppe who says he was paid using taxpayer dollars that were supposed to go to parliamentary functions. (Story is in French.) This one seems less black-and-white than the others, but still. It’s starting to look like a pattern.
Late Friday afternoon before a week in which MPs will be back in their riding, the House of Commons Board of Internal Economy – the secretive all-party committee which supervised the House of Commons budget, including members’ office budgets and expenses — released a suite of minutes from various pre-Christmas meetings.
There is not a whole lot of detail in the minutes — apparently the board has an issue with an unnamed MPs Ottawa residence expenses and another unnamed MP wants his legal bills covered by taxpayers while s/he is being sued by a constituent.
But we do have this information:
Latest at David Akin’s On the Hill Latest at Brian Lilley’s Pad|
Brigitte Pellerin |
John Robson |
Mark |
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Kristy Kirkup |
Daniel Proussalidis |
Jessica Murphy |
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Andre Forget |
Chris Roussakis |
Kris |
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Ada Slivinski |
Oona Woods |
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