OTTAWA – Newly released government documents show former Conservative cabinet minister Bev Oda wasn’t alone in racking up thousands of dollars in car expenses.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney racked up $37,000 tab in car services travelling to events in Vancouver and Toronto between December 2009 and January of this year, according to invoices released under access to information laws.
A similar request to Human Resources Minister Diane Finley’s office shows she spent $11,500 on luxury car services to ferry her between her hometown in Simcoe, Ont. and various locations in southern Ontario for ministerial events over three years.
Earlier this summer an investigation by Global News showed Bev Oda billed taxpayers $16,000 for car rentals in just under five years. Oda retired from politics after she was forced to repay Canadians for thousands of dollars of questionable expenses on a trip to London.
Global News made requests for other cabinet ministers’ car expenses after Oda retired from politics to see how her spending compared.
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Differences in car charges between ministers
The results suggest there are stark differences in the transportation choices ministers make.
Similar requests were made for the transportation receipts of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, but both of their departments came back with nothing.
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Nicholson’s spokeswoman Julie Di Mambro said when on ministerial business, he relies on local volunteers. If a rental car is required, it would fall under the expenses of the staff member accompanying him.
Treasury Board guidelines allow ministers to include fees for the use of privately-owned, government-owned or rental vehicles.
But NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus says it’s time to rethink the rules on ministerial expenses to include tighter standards and clearer reporting.
“This issue is not wanting to nickel and dime our ministers, but expecting our ministers are going to meet a certain standard when it comes to travel. We see some Ministers who charge very little, and they get by,” he said.
Car services the best option: ministers’ offices
Kenney’s invoices – some of which cover multiple days and events – show he hired a car service dozens of times at a rate of either $50 or $65 per hour. Included in the invoices are two car rental receipts for $50 and $200.
The most expense invoice of $2,379 was for a three-day trip to Vancouver where Kenney attended Olympic events, made an announcement on foreign credentials, held roundtables with ethnic communities, participated in an Olympic-themed citizenship ceremony and attended “other meetings and events.”
Kenney has been on the road for government business 100 out of 200 of last weekends, according to his press secretary Alexis Pavlich.
Pavlich said the minister relies on volunteers where possible and only uses car services when he participates in multiple events in different locations.
“This requires that he travel significant distances on a very tight schedule, while working between events,” she said. “It would be totally impractical for him to drive himself without breaking distracted driving laws.”
Pavlich said taking a taxi cab in either of the two cities would cost $100 per hour – a cost she called “unacceptably expensive.”
“It is cheaper to hire a driver with a Ford sedan than to pay for cabs between Mississauga, downtown Toronto, Scarborough and Markham all in a single day,” she said.
Finley’s expenses cover trips between December 2008 and October 2011 and range in cost from $100 to $1,000.
Finley has Graves disease which affects her vision – a reality that was a factor in the costs, according to her office.
“The charges were always for standard car services when on government business – and also during a period when Minister Finley who, due to a health condition that was widely known, was unable to drive herself,” said Finley’s director of communications Alyson Queen.
Backtracking on accountability: Easter
Liberal MP Wayne Easter said the expenses are just another example of the Harper government going back on its accountability promises.
“Some of these ministers let the fact they are a minister and they have the authority to expend these types of expenditures, they just take it like it is their credit card, and let’s do what we do,” he said. “It‘s wrong and goes against everything Stephen Harper said he would do,” he said.
Treasury Board President Tony Clement said the government is “on the right track,” pointing his move to end overtime pay for minister’s drivers and parking subsidies for senior bureaucrats and political staffers.
Clement is also heading up a special sub-committee tasked with finding efficiencies in government – and he says everything, including car services, is on the table.
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