TORONTO

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath may not like public sector CEOs expensing muffins to the taxpayer, but she’s not above doing it herself.

According to Freedom of Information documents obtained by the Ontario Liberals, the socialist leader and her assistant have charged taxpayers for muffins, bagels, Tim Hortons lunch combos and even a 25-cent Oshawa parking tab.

In the period from January 2011 to December 2013, Horwath and two assistants made well over 100 food claims as she travelled the province.

The chits handed to taxpayers show they ate well with more than 60 receipts for seafood — calamari, mussels, perch, pickerel, salmon, shrimp, trout, sea scallops and lobster bisque, the documents show.

Horwath has built her entire election campaign around the concern that average families are struggling to make ends meet and can’t afford to pay more in taxes, hydro bills, tolls and fees.

She has repeatedly lashed out at public sector fat cats who expensed small items like a muffin while collecting six-figure salaries.

Horwath has targeted the heads of major public agencies — demanding a hard cap on their salaries — after revelations that well compensated CEOs and consultants were not above nickel and diming the taxpayer for a tea or coffee, something most regular folks pay out of their own pockets.

“We’ve seen the same kind of scandals with eHealth, the exact same kind of scandal with the Ornge air ambulance, where these folks at the very top are expensing not only things like coffee and tea and muffins, but trips all over the world,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is quoted as saying in a published report last September.

Just a few days before she made the statement, Horwath and her assistant expensed a tea and coffee in Windsor, the documents revealed.

As leader of Ontario’s third-place party, Horwath is paid $158,158 a year, well below the take home of some of the people she has criticized — but still three times more than the provincial average salary.

During a May 2 announcement where the politician made it clear she would vote against the Liberal’s spring budget, Horwath said her leadership has always been about real lives, real problems and real people.

“I know that when you send your hard-earned tax dollars to Queen’s Park, you expect to see results,” Horwath said. “You don’t expect to see your tax dollars wasted ... In the real world, you’re adding up every bill at the kitchen table to see if you can squeeze out some savings.”

Horwath posts her expenses online at the Ontario New Democratic Caucus website at http://ondpcaucus.com/en/andrea-horwath/leaders-expenses/.

The expenses are broken down as meals, flights, car rentals and other, but the FOI documents show the actual receipts.

There are no bills for alcohol and Horwath demonstrated a preference for family-style restaurants, including Kelsey’s in Sudbury, Casey’s in Timmins, Gilli’s Truck Stop and Family Restaurant in New Liskeard, Taal Fine Indian Cuisine in Brantford and Tim Hortons outlets across the province.

When asked about the expenses, including charging taxpayers for seafood meals and Tim Hortons teas, NDP spokesperson Alex Callahan defended the actions.

“Andrea Horwath spends a lot of time on the road travelling the province and meeting Ontarians,” Callahan said. “All of her expenses are submitted to Ontario’s integrity commissioner, and are reviewed and approved by that office.”