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TOPIC HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CANADIAN NEWSGROUPS - DROP DEAD
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Post by M.I.WakefieldPost by {~_~} РаиÑаYeah, Eve Adams is there - second from the top.
Nealy half a million dollars just for her's and her office's expenses.
The NDP has posted (at the bottom of the page of this link: http://www.ndp.ca/ourcaucus
Because it's alphabetical, not because of her spending.
NO ?! Really? (>_<)
You'll note that Stephen Harper's expenses are NOT complete.
Do you see anything under travel expenses? I wonder why . . . .
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http://o.canada.com - NewsNational
[* Note the date of this article: October 30, 2012 . . . Harper's
travel expenses on our dime are even higher in 2013 & 2014.]
Federal spending on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s international trips
grows by 75 per cent
OTTAWA — Federal spending on Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
international trips and related hospitality increased more than 70 per
cent last fiscal year to nearly $14 million while his office cut costs
in other areas, according to new government figures.
As Harper was flying overseas more often, the Prime Minister’s Office
cut its spending on staff, communications and other costs by 15 per cent
in the 2011-12 budget year to around $7.6 million, compared to about $9
million the previous year, according to federal public accounts tabled
Tuesday in the House of Commons.
However, some of the expenditure reductions in the PMO in 2011-12 are
from ministers’ offices largely shutting down for about six weeks during
the 2011 federal election campaign, when staff take unpaid leaves of
absences.
International travel expenditures for ministers, their parliamentary
secretaries and ministerial staff also increased, up 11 per cent last
fiscal year, to about $2.2 million, at a time public servants were asked
to tighten their belts.
Cabinet as a whole chopped its expenditures, with total spending in
ministers’ offices down almost 12 per cent to about $53 million,
although a good chunk of that is believed to be due to offices scaling
back operations during the federal election campaign.
In his first year with a majority government, Harper travelled abroad
more than a dozen times on his Canadian Forces Airbus to major foreign
conferences and on official state visits, including to China, Brazil,
Australia, Hawaii, France, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Switzerland and
Washington, D.C.
Most of the conferences Harper attended are seen as mandatory for
international leaders, including the G8/G20, APEC and Commonwealth
summits, to name a few, while his trip to China was seen as a key
bilateral visit to strengthen ties with the Asian powerhouse.
All told, the federal government spent about $5.7 million in 2011-12 (up
72 per cent from $3.3 million the previous year) on travel expenses for
the prime minister’s trips to international conferences and meetings,
including for Harper, his ministers, department staff and advance teams,
according to the documents.
An additional $8 million was spent in 2011-12 on expenditures “such as
hospitality and conference fees” for the prime minister’s international
trips, up about 75 per cent from $4.5 million the previous year.
Andrew MacDougall, the prime minister’s director of communications, said
Harper travelled overseas more in 2011-12 than the previous year partly
because Canada hosted the G8 and G20 summits in 2010, meaning less
travel in 2010-11.
Other major meetings, such as the conference of Commonwealth leaders
Harper attended in 2011-12, is only held every two years, he noted,
while the prime minister’s China missions also only happen every few
years. Furthermore, the prime minister has been travelling abroad to
sign important free trade deals or launch negotiations, he said.
“We represent Canadians at multiple summits around the world. It depends
on where they’re being hosted. Sometimes we travel quite far, sometimes
they’re at home,” MacDougall said Tuesday. “These are important for the
Canadian economy so we have to make the travel to do that, and we always
endeavour to spend taxpayer dollars responsibly when we’re on the road.”
The government as a whole spent about $10.2 million in 2011-12 on
“hospitality and conference fees” for Canadian representation at
international conferences and meetings, including for Harper, cabinet
ministers and the Governor General — a 31 per cent increase over the
previous year.
Broken down, the prime minister’s most expensive trip in 2011-12 was his
visit to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Honduras, which cost taxpayers
almost $941,000 in travel expenses for Harper, a handful of ministers
and dozens of advisors and employees from the PMO, Privy Council Office,
Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and other departments.
Also, the government spent nearly $1.2 million on additional hospitality
and conference fees for the same five-day visit to Latin America in
August 2011.
Harper’s five-day trip to China in February 2012 for an official state
visit and to promote trade cost approximately $725,000 in travel
expenditures, and $972,000 in hospitality and conference fees.
Among Harper’s cabinet, International Trade Minister Ed Fast (along with
his parliamentary secretary and staff) racked up the largest
international travel expenses in 2011-12 at $350,000, with Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty (and parliamentary secretary and staff) next at
$290,000, followed by Defence Minister Peter MacKay at $246,000.