East Coast MPs among Liberals' highest spenders

Federal Liberals have posted the latest batch of travel and hospitality expenses following Justin Trudeau's promise last spring to proactively disclose how much members of his party spend.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau billed $8,705.61 in travel expenses

CBC News · Posted: Feb 24, 2014 7:30 PM EST | Last Updated: February 25, 2014

Liberals' travel expenses released

11 years ago

3:10

Federal Liberals posted their second batch of travel and hospitality expenses today, but stopped short of full disclosure

Federal Liberals have posted the latest batch of travel and hospitality expenses following Justin Trudeau's promise last spring to proactively disclose how much members of his party spend.

Liberal MP Scott Andrews spent $28,570.93, the most of any Liberal, during the period from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2013. Most of his expenses were incurred by travel to and from his riding in Avalon, N.L.

Although Trudeau recently kicked out all senators from his caucus, their expenses were also made public today.

The posted expenses reveal Charlie Watt is the biggest spending senator with $25,282.40 in travel expenses from his riding of Inkerman, in northern Quebec, to Ottawa.

All of the expenses were linked from the party's website to the web page of each MP and senator.

For the most part, expenses covered travel between their home base and Ottawa. Some MPs and senators also hosted meals with stakeholders and travelled to attend conferences or give speeches.

Trudeau charged for visit to U.S. capital

Trudeau's expenses shows no regular travel between Ottawa and his Montreal riding because he moved to Ottawa's Rockcliffe neighbourhood last summer.

The Liberal leader billed $8,705.61 in travel expenses, which included a three-day work trip for a conference in Washington, D.C., and at least one trip to meet with his constituents in the riding of Papineau, Que.

A CBC News review, earlier this month, of Conservative senators' posted expenses revealed the top spenders who regularly purchased business class airfares and used public money to bring spouses with them on trips to Ottawa.

In one case, Senator Scott Tannas of Alberta billed $12,000 to taxpayers to fly himself and his wife in executive class to Ottawa for a two-day trip.

Conservative MPs and senators have begun voluntarily disclosing more details of their travel and hospitality expenses. Conservative senators Doug Black and Bob Runciman were among the first to do so.

New Democrats say they'd like an independent parliamentary body to post the expenses in order to assure they're accurate.

The Liberals are using the same model used by cabinet ministers to post their expenses. Taxis, car rentals or public transit are described as "other" transportation and no receipts are provided.