Junkets for federal parliamentarians cost taxpayers $3.7 million since 2006

Tim Naumetz, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - MPs and Senators from all parties have spent more than $3.7 million of taxpayers' money travelling the world since January 2006, parliamentary records show.

Despite their bitter partisan front since the election of the minority Conservative government, the politicians amiably shared airline executive class and luxury hotels as they journeyed to locations in all corners of the globe.

Delegations of MPs and senators led by Commons Speaker Peter Milliken and Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella had racked up $1,014,503 in travel costs to last January, with the expenses of two subsequent delegations to Peru and the Middle East still to be reported to Parliament.

MPs and senators in parliamentary exchange associations spent a further $2,757,393 on "official visits" to destinations that most citizens can only imagine.

The junkets have been a tradition for years on Parliament Hill, defended by politicians as a way for Canadian representatives to learn and benefit from the experiences of lawmakers in other countries.

But as the number of inter-parliamentary associations and exchange groups has swelled, so has their cost.

MPs and senators on the new Canada-China Legislative Association ran up travel and hotel bills totalling $291,466 on only eight trips between March 2006 and August 2007.

Members of the Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group spent at least $365,335 on 23 trips across the U.S. One of the reports did not include expenses, and the MPs spent a further $141,622 attending meetings with U.S. representatives on trips to Canadian centres, including Banff, Alta., and Whistler, B.C.

The most popular destination was Europe, however, where the attractions for Canadian MPs cost taxpayers a total of $749,706 in flights and expenses for 24 trips by the Canada-Europe Association alone.

Overall, groups of MPs and senators in 12 parliamentary associations have made a total of 119 excursions abroad over the last two years, while the two speakers led delegations on 18 voyages, including the two in January and February.

Four senators, led by Liberal Joe Day, also flew across the Pacific to Jakarta for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum, not one of the 12 exchange associations.

Paris is a frequent destination, as are London and New York. But the roaming parliamentarians have also taken in more exotic locales.

Destinations over the past two years included Mongolia, Morocco, Jordan, Madagascar, New Caledonia, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Beijing, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama City, Kuala Lumpur, Hanoi, Islamabad, Shanghai, Vienna, Sweden, Ireland, Burkino Faso, Costa Rica and Malta.

A spokesman for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation was nearly speechless at the extent of the travel. It must be reported to Parliament, including the cost and membership of each delegation, but is then buried in the Senate and Commons journals.

"It's a waste of money," said Adam Taylor, the federation's national research director.

"This is the type of spending that drives ordinary taxpayers, who might afford a vacation every few years, absolutely bananas."

MPs defend the excursions as an accepted system of exchanging visits with parliamentarians around the world, allowing them to become familiar with each other and learn more about their political and social systems.

"It's also not just about learning," said New Democrat MP Yvon Godin. "Many times you see members from other countries coming into our Parliament, too. It's an exchange between countries, and that's what they're for."

Godin, who must approve the travel for his MPs before they leave and also has taken part himself, confirmed the prized trips are used as a disciplinary tool in the party system.

"Let's say three persons apply. They come to the whip and then the whip decides which one will go," he said. "That's when the discipline comes in."

Milliken's communications director, Heather Bradley, said the Commons speaker enthusiastically supports the delegations he leads as a vital contribution to "parliamentary diplomacy."

A top aide to Kinsella said the Senate speaker used recent trips to Poland and Croatia to influence key changes in government policy on Canadian visa requirements and immigration application forms that were unpopular in those countries. A visa requirement for Polish visitors to Canada was dropped, while a military service history required for immigration forms for Croatians was also abandoned.

Kinsella's chief of staff, Janelle Feldstein, who has accompanied Kinsella on many of his trips, added that the travel is taxing, but rewarding.

"They're exhausting, they're gruelling, you're sick of your suitcase," she said. "But it is absolutely fascinating."

Sometimes, only one MP or senator makes an official visit on behalf of the parliamentary association.

Conservative MP Rob Anders, for instance, was the only delegate on a 12-day visit to London last year with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

"I had the great pleasure of meeting HM Queen Elizabeth the Second," he wrote in his 10-paragraph report on the visit.

"I also acquired some interesting facts throughout the trip. For instance, I learned that the origins of many vernacular phrases like 'it's in the bag,' 'crossing the line' or 'toeing the line' were derived from parliamentary tradition."

Sometimes, the intelligence from sundry conferences and meetings might not be as valuable.

The report from an August 2005 delegation to Seattle, Wash., mistakenly included in the recent Library of Parliament records because it was tabled in Parliament nearly a year late, shows Canadian and American legislators were briefed on potential presidential contenders for the U.S. elections this year.

Hillary Clinton led the list prepared by a Fox News correspondent, but the roster did not include Barack Obama.

NDP MP Pat Martin says he accompanied a delegation to Uganda last year, but is too busy with a Liberal challenger to stray far from his Winnipeg riding.

"The rule I have created for myself is never take a trip that you couldn't justify and defend on the front page of your hometown newspaper," he said.

© The Canadian Press, 2008