Cabinet Minister at Public Trough
| 12/2/2007 | Posted by Patti under Canadian Politics |
The Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn has been using a private jet to travel from Ottawa to his riding of Jonquiere-Alma in Quebec. In order to hide his largesse, he’s been billing the flights to the Economic Development Agency of Canada which comes under his area of responsibility. The 14 flights he took between April and August 2006 cost a total of $68,000. Several of the flights originated in Ottawa on Friday and returned on Monday.
All MPs are allowed 64 round trips to their riding each year as long as they book a commercial flight. So, why does Blackburn think he rates spending taxpayers money in this manner? Harper spent lots of time in opposition railing against any perceived overspending on the part of the then Liberal government, what steps has he taken to put a stop to one of his own cabinet ministers?
To make things even more disgusting, Blackburn buried the expenses for the private jet expenses in amongst other expense items and only showed flight expenses for the commercial trips he made. His press secretary claimed that the trips were necessary and that the minister would have used commercial flights had they been available. If that is the case, then why not openly claim the expenses with an explanation of why they were incurred.
What walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… likely is.
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