Which MP spends the most?

[Topaz]

It seem that one Tory from B.C. is the highest spending MP in all of Canada and while running for office he was going to change Ottawa after the Adscam, yeah right! The following article list the highest and the lowest from B.C. and why the MP's are allowed to spend. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/South+Surrey+Conservative+Russ+Hiebert+biggest+spender/3066237/story.html

[Alta4ever]

It seem that one Tory from B.C. is the highest spending MP in all of Canada and while running for office he was going to change Ottawa after the Adscam, yeah right! The following article list the highest and the lowest from B.C. and why the MP's are allowed to spend. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/South+Surrey+Conservative+Russ+Hiebert+biggest+spender/3066237/story.html

Lets have a little more info topaz.

Regional Lists

Here are the top five overall spenders for each province.

ALBERTA

1. Lee Richardson (CPC) $535,644

2. Laurie Hawn (CPC) $519,427

3. Rick Casson (CPC) $514,038

4. Chris Warkentin (CPC) $505,893

5. Jim Prentice (CPC) $496,725

BRITISH COLUMBIA

1. Russ Hiebert (CPC) $637,093

2. Nathan Cullen (NDP) $580,579

3. James Lunney (CPC) $564,728

4. Jim Abbott (CPC) $558,978

5. Jay Hill (CPC) $549,857

MANITOBA

1. Steven Fletcher (CPC) $781,631

2. Brian Storseth (CPC) $507,658

3. Joy Smith (CPC) $502,605

4. James Bezan (CPC) $499,682

5. Vic Toews (CPC) $477,237

NEW BRUNSWICK

1. Dominic LeBlanc (LPC) $479,857

2. Brian Murphy (LPC) $478,070

3. Rob Moore (CPC) $429,209

4. Greg Thompson (CPC) $397,841

5. Mike Allen (CPC) $386,772

NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR

1. Todd Russell (LPC) $511,460

2. Scott Simms (LPC) $504,208

3. Gerry Byrne (LPC) $463,663

NOVA SCOTIA

1. Rodger Cuzner (LPC) $509,875

2. Scott Brison (LPC) $473,101

3. Gerald Keddy (CPC) $466,894

4. Michael Savage (LPC) $437,090

5. Mark Eyking (LPC) $433,644

ONTARIO

1. Jack Layton (NDP) $555,983

2. Helena Guergis (IND) $532,329

3. Jeff Watson (CPC) $503,936

4. Patrick Brown (CPC) $499,766

5. Charlie Angus (NDP) $495,235

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

1. Wayne Easter (LPC) $429,129

2. Lawrence MacAulay (LPC) $401,735

3. Shawn Murphy (LPC) $398,737

QUEBEC

1. Yvon Levesque (BQ) $529,932

2. Jean-Pierre Blackburn (CPC) $452,061

3. Raynald Blais (BQ) $448,453

4. Gilles Duceppe (BQ) $446,967

5. Gerard Asselin (BQ) $442,964

SASKATCHEWAN

1. Rob Clarke (CPC) $541,704

2. Maurice Vellacott (CPC) $529,219

3. Lynne Yelich (CPC) $518,180

4. Bradley Trost (CPC) $494,890

5. Garry Breitkreuz (CPC) $477,785

- - -

Who Spent What?

These figures are for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2009, the latest year for which figures are available. As there was a general election in the middle of that fiscal year, the following lists and calculations only apply to the 239 MPs who were in Parliament before and after the last general election.

Averages

- Average members office budget: $289,964

- Average goods and services provided by the House of Commons: $142,763

- Average grand total: $432,728

- Average spent on travel within ridings: $11,413

- Average spent on return trips between Ottawa and ridings: $87,415

- Average spent on advertising: $15,015

Biggest Office Budgets

1. Yvon Levesque -- Que. (BQ) $356,086

2. Dennis Bevington -- N.W.T. (NDP) $352,694

3. Charlie Angus -- Ont. (NDP) $347,726

4. Nathan Cullen -- B.C. (NDP) $345,020

5. Marc Lemay -- Que. (BQ) $343,445

6. Jay Hill -- B.C. (CPC) $332,733

7. Gerard Asselin -- Que. (BQ) $329,513

8. James Lunney -- B.C. (CPC) $321,762

9. Meili Faille -- Que. (BQ) $320,679

10. Richard Harris -- B.C. (CPC) $320,414

Biggest Overall Spenders

(Member's office budgets plus goods and services provided by the House of Commons)

1. Steven Fletcher -- Man. (CPC) $781,631 (*see note below)

2. Russ Hiebert -- B.C. (CPC) $637,093

3. Dennis Bevington -- N.W.T. (NDP) $586,014

4. Nathan Cullen -- B.C. (NDP) $580,579

5. James Lunney -- B.C. (CPC) $564,728

6. Jim Abbott -- B.C. (CPC) $558,978

7. Jack Layton -- Ont. (NDP) $555,983

8. Jay Hill -- B.C. (CPC) $549,857

9. Richard Harris -- B.C. (CPC) $545,343

10. Rob Clarke -- Sask. (CPC) $541,704

* Fletcher is a quadriplegic and requires special assistants, extra travel costs, and specialized equipment to discharge his MPs duties. These added about $308,000 extra in expenses that other MPs do not incur.

Lowest office budgets

1. Stephen Harper -- Alta. (CPC) $189,774

2. Colin Mayes -- B.C. (CPC) $219,760

3. David Anderson -- Sask. (CPC) $223,310

4. John Baird -- Ottawa West-Nepean (CPC) $227,675

5. Derek Lee -- Ont. (LPC) $234,837

6. Massimo Pacetti -- Que. (LPC) $236,837

7. Ed Fast -- B.C. (CPC) $242,426

8. Andre Arthur -- Que. (IND) $244,416

9. Mike Lake -- Alta. (CPC) $245,388

10. Deepak Obhrai -- Alta. (CPC) $248,254

Lowest Overall Spenders

(Members office budgets plus goods and services provided by the House of Commons.)

1. Stephen Harper -- Alta. (CPC) $245,509

2. Andre Arthur -- Que. (IND) $286,986

3. John Baird -- Ottawa West-Nepean (CPC) $300,283

4. Massimo Pacetti -- Que. (LPC) $314,587

5. Derek Lee -- Ont. (LPC) $316,754

6. David McGuinty -- Ottawa South (LPC) $323,882

7. Francine Lalonde -- Que. (BQ) $325,649

8. Peter Milliken -- Ont. (LPC) $327,377

9. Bernard Patry -- Que. (LPC) $334,861

10. Yasmin Ratansi -- Ont. (LPC) $336,815

List confined to those MPs from the last Parliament and this Parliament.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/parliamentary+snapshot+Which+spending+what/3064472/story.html#ixzz0orTJMNqv

Those in glass houses......

Looks like that no one party is better then the others as they are all represented in this list.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Alta4ever

[M.Dancer]

It seem that one Tory from B.C. is the highest spending MP in all of Canada and while running for office he was going to change Ottawa after the Adscam, yeah right!

Google now has a feature where you can translate the text of a site into your native language...on the other hand, your little mistakes are one reason why your posts are so funny...

These days, the Conservative MP for South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale is the second highest-spending MP in Canada and the top-spending MP in B.C.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/South+Surrey+Conservative+Russ+Hiebert+biggest+spender/3066237/story.html#ixzz0oxBSyM4w

[Jerry J. Fortin]

Those numbers are incredible. Perhaps we need to put that into perspective somehow to soften the blow. First question then becomes, did we include the cost of their salaries into the equation? Second question, did we calculate the department budgets associated with the government members, and committee budgets and all other areas where MP's can and do spend money?

Lots more questions if we can find the answers to these first probes into the government anal orifice.....

[waldo]

Google now has a feature where you can translate the text of a site into your native language...on the other hand, your little mistakes are one reason why your posts are so funny...

you seem to take liberty in targeting this particular member... you could stand on absolute accuracy to presume to denigrate - for what real purpose, other than to denigrate... or... you could recognize the single point that holds the Conservative member, Russ Hiebert, to second place in overall spending for all MPs. Yes, not the highest spending MP, but the second highest spending MP... given that the highest spending MP in Canada, as a quadriplegic, "requires special assistants, extra travel costs, and specialized equipment to discharge his MPs duties, adding about $308,000 extra in expenses that other MPs do not incur."

so, yes... CPC MP Hiebert is only the second highest spending MP in Canada - claiming more than $200K over the average expense claim for all MPs in Canada. Well done for pointing that out Dancer, well done.

[Molly]

I find the Ontario lists ruefully amusing... Helena Guergis is #2 on the list at $532 grand, and her next-door neighbouring MP, Patrick Brown, is #4, shaving under half a mil by less than a weeks pay at minimum wage.

A person really has to wonder whether that's good value for the money spent.

[M.Dancer]

you seem to take liberty in targeting this particular member... you could stand on absolute accuracy to presume to denigrate - for what real purpose, other than to denigrate... or... you could recognize the single point that holds the Conservative member, Russ Hiebert, to second place in overall spending for all MPs. Yes, not the highest spending MP, but the second highest spending MP... given that the highest spending MP in Canada, as a quadriplegic, "requires special assistants, extra travel costs, and specialized equipment to discharge his MPs duties, adding about $308,000 extra in expenses that other MPs do not incur."

so, yes... CPC MP Hiebert is only the second highest spending MP in Canada - claiming more than $200K over the average expense claim for all MPs in Canada. Well done for pointing that out Dancer, well done.

Ah Waldo..how sort of correct you are...I stand on accuracy, and optics...cause calling someone the number ONE when they are number TWO is really, well, shoddy..but perfectly normal for Topaz.

But given that the article clearly says they are #2....well..if you are happy with that sort of error, good for you.

[Argus]

It seem that one Tory from B.C. is the highest spending MP in all of Canada and while running for office he was going to change Ottawa after the Adscam, yeah right! The following article list the highest and the lowest from B.C. and why the MP's are allowed to spend. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/thewest/South+Surrey+Conservative+Russ+Hiebert+biggest+spender/3066237/story.html

Raw numbers are meaningless, as I think has been pointed out to you. Some MPs have much larger constituencies than others, in either numbers of people or geographical borders. Some MPs are in big cities, easy and relatively cheap to travel to and from. Others are in more rural areas (esp tories) and so their travel costs will be higher. MPs in certain cities and areas, ie BC, will have higher expenses to rent the space for their constituency offices and to supply them with supplies and staff. In addition, some MPs have more duties than others, sit on more committees perhaps, represent their party or government more often at political occasions, and are required to travel more. Some have disabilities, others have small children which would necessitate more frequent visits home. You need details in order to compare spending, and you have none.

I'd also like to point out - again - that the individual expense accounts of MPs are not what the AG actually wants to look at. She wanted to examine how money was being spent on Parliament Hill, in the form of staffing and operations budgets, supplies and services, etc. In terms of parliamentary spending, individual MP expense accounts are a much smaller slice of the parliamentary spending budget than the budgets for the administration and maintenance of parliament hill. individual secretaries and aids work specifically for their MPs, and are hired, paid, and fired by them. The great mass of people on Parliament Hill, however, are not hired by the MPs but by Parliament Hill as an institution/organization. These are the non-political staff, civil servants, in essence.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Argus

[waldo]

Google now has a feature where you can translate the text of a site into your native language...on the other hand, your little mistakes are one reason why your posts are so funny...

you seem to take liberty in targeting this particular member... you could stand on absolute accuracy to presume to denigrate - for what real purpose, other than to denigrate... or... you could recognize the single point that holds the Conservative member, Russ Hiebert, to second place in overall spending for all MPs. Yes, not the highest spending MP, but the second highest spending MP... given that the highest spending MP in Canada, as a quadriplegic, "requires special assistants, extra travel costs, and specialized equipment to discharge his MPs duties, adding about $308,000 extra in expenses that other MPs do not incur."

so, yes... CPC MP Hiebert is only the second highest spending MP in Canada - claiming more than $200K over the average expense claim for all MPs in Canada. Well done for pointing that out Dancer, well done.

Ah Waldo..how sort of correct you are...I stand on accuracy, and optics...cause calling someone the number ONE when they are number TWO is really, well, shoddy..but perfectly normal for Topaz.

But given that the article clearly says they are #2....well..if you are happy with that sort of error, good for you.

no, it's very clear you don't stand on either optics or accuracy - unless they're self-serving. This was simply another of your repeated juvenile replies to this particular member. But take heart in your accuracy Dancer... you stood up for the rights of Conservative MP, Russ Hiebert, to bask in his second place... second only to the quadriplegic MP who holds first place given his disability requirements.

[robert_viera]

We ought to be asking why we're not looking at the MP expense figures for the fiscal year 2009-2010, which ended nearly 2 months ago.

[Molly]

We ought to be asking why we're not looking at the MP expense figures for the fiscal year 2009-2010, which ended nearly 2 months ago.

I just checked out your 'Brown Retort', Robert.

[naomiglover]

no, it's very clear you don't stand on either optics or accuracy - unless they're self-serving.

Story of M.Dancer's forum life.

[robert_viera]

I just checked out your 'Brown Retort', Robert.

Thanks! I was starting to think I was the only person reading it.

[Topaz]

Ah Waldo..how sort of correct you are...I stand on accuracy, and optics...cause calling someone the number ONE when they are number TWO is really, well, shoddy..but perfectly normal for Topaz.

But given that the article clearly says they are #2....well..if you are happy with that sort of error, good for you.

Hey Dancer, he was #1 coming from B.C. and remember, he not a leader of a party, leaders do have more expenses.

[Argus]

Hey Dancer, he was #1 coming from B.C. and remember, he not a leader of a party, leaders do have more expenses.

And what, exactly do you believe this indicates?

I mean, given you zero idea what his expenses were or why they might have been higher than someone elses?

[M.Dancer]

Hey Dancer, he was #1 coming from B.C. and remember, he not a leader of a party, leaders do have more expenses.

It seem that one Tory from B.C. is the highest spending MP in all of Canada

I understand he not a leader of a party...

leaders do have more expenses.

Jack Layton (NDP) $555,983

Stephen Harper -- Alta. (CPC) $245,509

Some leaders do apprently have more expense...but none less than harper

[Smallc]

I understand he not a leader of a party...

Jack Layton (NDP) $555,983

Stephen Harper -- Alta. (CPC) $245,509

Some leaders do apprently have more expense...but none less than harper

No, Harper has a much bigger, completely different expense account.

[robert_viera]

I understand he not a leader of a party...

Jack Layton (NDP) $555,983

Stephen Harper -- Alta. (CPC) $245,509

Some leaders do apprently have more expense...but none less than harper

If you're going to do a fair comparison, you're going to need to break down the totals:

Stephen Harper (2008-2009):

Member's Office Budget - Staff and Other Expenses: $148,362

Member's Office Budget - Travel: $0

Member's Office Budget - Advertising: $280

Member's Office Budget - Office Lease: $41,132

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Travel: $27,492

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Telephone: $6,052

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Printing: $14,257

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Office Supplies: $3,755

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Office Furniture: $2,474

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Other: $1,705

Jack Layton (2008-2009):

Member's Office Budget - Staff and Other Expenses: $228,726

Member's Office Budget - Travel: $14,737

Member's Office Budget - Advertising: $7,999

Member's Office Budget - Office Lease: $22,300

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Travel: $204,930

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Telephone: $7,561

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Printing: $41,304

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Office Supplies: $17,533

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Office Furniture: $3,678

Goods and Services Provided by The House - Other: $7,215

The most glaring difference between the two, and responsible for more than half the difference in their expense totals, is the amount for travel paid for by the House of Commons. So, with only $27,492 in travel expenses paid for by the House of Commons, is Stephen Harper a penny pincher? Is Jack Layton a lavish spender because of his $204,930 in travel expenses paid for by the House?

I seem to recall reading something about some of Mr. Harper's travel expenses just yesterday:

A total of 34 domestic trips Harper took on government Challenger jets from April 2009 to last December — with 53 destinations or stopovers from coast to coast — cost taxpayers nearly $500,000.

The prime minister spent another $341,080 on a weeklong Airbus tour of the Arctic, in part to promote the economic stimulus program and also as part of his plan to demonstrate Canadian sovereignty in the North.

Source: http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1183919.html

It seems that Mr. Harper might be a little bit more costly than the MP expense figures indicate.

Edited May 26, 2010 by robert_viera

[Wilber]

Hiebert is already taking some flack in the local media

Link

Edited May 26, 2010 by Wilber