Federal politicians and public servants are blowing the bank on travel – taking a multitude of trips at high-class prices to London, Paris, Geneva, Sydney and various North American destinations.

A Star investigation found spending by ministers, political staff and bureaucrats that is far from the frugal image of the Stephen Harper government.

Some federal travellers can't seem to get to London, England, for less than $6,000, even though economy seats were available for $1,000 to $2,000. In our analysis of 60,000 travel records over four years, we found $18,000 flights to Australia, $7,000 flights to Paris, $11,000 flights to Indonesia and $8,000 flights to Switzerland.

By contrast, travel surveys show businesses are reducing costs by choosing more economical flights. At least one other government, Alberta, has shown more care with taxpayer dollars. For example, the Alberta environment minister and an aide spent $3,200 each to fly to Bali for a United Nations conference on climate change last year. The former federal environment minister, John Baird, took a $10,920 flight to the same conference. Three political aides and two bureaucrats joined him at similar rates. Total airfare was $61,000.

In the Star's investigation, we found that Harper's ministers often travel with a large entourage, at a high cost.

For example, when former federal agriculture minister Chuck Strahl flew to Geneva for World Trade Organization talks in 2006, he took with him five political staff (his chief of staff, his senior policy adviser, his junior policy adviser, a parliamentary secretary, a second parliamentary secretary) and three bureaucrats – the deputy minister, the assistant deputy minister and the chief trade negotiator, who actually conducts the negotiations. The week-long trip to Geneva, which began with a meeting of provincial ministers in Newfoundland, cost taxpayers $84,000 in airfare and accommodations. Strahl's airfare from Ottawa to Newfoundland to Geneva was $7,200.

A spokesperson for Strahl said the meetings in Geneva were "extremely important for international negotiations on supply management and the pressing issue of opening borders to Canadian beef." Ted Yeomans said numerous aides went to support the minister at "informal side meetings" and business-class flights were chosen because "meetings commenced as soon as they arrived."

Responding to questions about the Bali trip by former environment minister Baird, a spokesperson said the business-class flights "permitted members of the Canadian delegation to work while travelling and to assume their duties immediately upon arrival." Asked if the travellers had, like the Alberta delegation, considered a cheaper option, spokesperson Sujata Raisinghani said "we cannot speculate or comment."

According to government rules, approval for international trips must come from the prime minister's office.

Confronted with the Star's findings, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the government will now limit the number of political assistants travelling outside Ottawa to two. Kory Teneycke also said the government is considering a plan to encourage federal travellers to fly economy class.

"Our government is always concerned about how hard-earned tax dollars are being spent. We are continually improving the way we manage taxpayer money, to ensure the best value for money," he said.

This story is based on data and interviews with government officials and travel professionals. The data is a collection of approximately 60,000 federal travel records ($70 million in expenses) disclosed by 20 of the major federal departments, such as natural resources, environment, health and foreign affairs. The travel took place during a four-year period – the last two years of the Liberal government (2004-2006) and the first two years of the Conservative government (2006-2008).

Both Liberals and Conservatives have been big spenders but the Star's analysis found most Conservative ministers spent slightly more than the Liberals they once accused of being lavish spenders.

In a detailed comparison of 12 major ministries, the Star found Conservative ministers outspent Liberal predecessors in 10 out of 12 cases. But the Liberals outspent the Conservatives in the Prime Minister's Office. During the last two years of the Liberal government, the PMO spent $2.8 million on travel and hospitality. During its first two years, the Conservative PMO reports spending $2.6 million.

However, the Prime Minister's Office said its own analysis showed that overall, "our Government has spent significantly less than the previous government on travel and hospitality, period." Spokesperson Teneycke did not provide proof of their analysis.

The trips the Star studied ranged from overseas conferences in Europe to visits with friendly politicians in Australia, to high-priced trips by one minister who travelled south to Florida in the winter and southeast to Maine in the summer (see story, below).

The database the Star assembled includes flights, hotel stays and meals. As high as the costs are, they should reflect discounts of up to 25 per cent because of agreements the federal government, with its massive buying power, has with travel providers. So a $7,500 ticket would have cost the public $10,000. In either case, they are expensive tickets and indicate little attempt was made to get a better deal.

Travelling in business class (sometimes called executive class) is obviously more comfortable. The seats are bigger, many reconfigure into beds, and cocktails and dinner are much more civilized. These are big-ticket flights, taken by many senior federal government travellers.

The federal government has a cumbersome set of rules for travel. The Travel Directive policy manual says the "standard for air travel is economy class" and the "lowest available airfares" shall be sought, with bookings made as far in advance as possible.

Beyond that are several caveats: If you fly for longer than nine hours, you can take business class (London is roughly an eight-hour flight). If you are a senior bureaucrat (such as a deputy minister) travelling more than 850 kilometres, which is roughly the distance from Toronto to Quebec City, you can take business class.

Ministers are not subject to guidelines. Many senior officials, whether politicians, political staff or public servants, take the more expensive business-class flights no matter where they are travelling.

The federal government's travel costs do not reflect current business practices. Companies are cutting costs by taking economical flights, or no flights at all. The National Business Travel Association says that since 2007, 72 per cent of business travellers are facing some restrictions on business class.

Not all federal travellers blow the bank.

In one example, then-Conservative Health Minister Tony Clement booked an economy flight to Kenya and Tanzania to visit health clinics and deliver a $150,000 Canadian government cheque. Clement sat in economy class. Up front in executive class sat his two political staffers, both flying on $11,000 tickets. Clement's office confirmed the details of the trip, and when asked about the difference in price said only that Clement chose to fly economy. Clement is now Industry Minister.

The Star, noting that the trip had cost $30,000 in total, asked why it was necessary to spend that much to deliver an aid cheque. Clement spokesperson Stephane Shank said the minister first went to Nairobi, Kenya, to open an infectious disease treatment centre that was partly funded by the University of Manitoba and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. He also visited the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam to announce a one-time funding commitment of $150,000 toward the training of local doctors and nurses.

Allan Rock, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations (Rock's expenses were listed under the Foreign Affairs Department), spent just $722 to fly to Geneva in March, 2006. Most flights to Geneva in the Star's database are $7,000 to $8,000.

"It wasn't a hardship flight," said Rock, a former Liberal cabinet minister and now president of the University of Ottawa.

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"I went to meet the Ugandan foreign minister to set the stage for an end to conflict in Uganda. I just went economy. The difference between economy and first class or business class is just astronomical. I just could not face the prospect of paying $7,000 for the sort of flight that is not a hardship flight. Just six to seven hours and sitting in the back in economy is not a hardship at all."

Of all the government ministries studied, the Revenue Ministry was the most frugal. Officials there recorded, for example, $700 flights to London, England, and $1,200 flights to Brussels, Belgium.

Some of the high costs the Star found were related to short-hop domestic trips.

Last year, 17 government officials flew from Ottawa to Toronto to meet federal finance minister James Flaherty. The next day, Flaherty flew to Ottawa. This begs the question: Why didn't the 17 officials just wait for him to be in Ottawa? Flaherty's staff says this happened during lead-up to the budget and "a situation like this is limited to important matters and occurs rarely to ensure value for taxpayers."

The biggest spender of all ministers during the four-year period was former Conservative Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, a frequent flyer with numerous trips to London, Paris and Australia. He spent $340,000 on ministerial travel over two years, more than any other minister in a similar period, Liberal or Conservative. (Ministers, as members of Parliament, receive other travel expense allowances for numerous trips home to their riding – the expenses detailed here are ministerial.)

Lunn takes along an entourage of political staff (including his event co-ordinator) when he is overseas. Locally, he mainly flies between Ottawa and his home province of British Columbia – largely ignoring resource-rich Alberta and avoiding Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. Often, he flies home from Ottawa on Thursdays to "meet stakeholders." Lunn's aide told the Star the international trips are all part of the "minister's commitment to make Canada a leader when it comes to natural resources." Lunn is now minister of state for sport.

In a case where a more economical trip would have presented a better image, former Indian affairs minister Jim Prentice and his wife travelled to Belgium in July 2007 to help commemorate the thousands of Canadians who died at Passchendaele during World War I. Airfare for the couple was $13,000. A spokesperson said protocol required the minister to travel with his wife (he was meeting the King and Queen of Belgium), but she did not comment on the cost of the trip.

The Star also found some ministers use government jets and charters for flights when commercial flights would be cheaper. For example, former transport minister Lawrence Cannon used a government jet at least 22 times in two years. A spokesperson said it is the most cost-effective way to travel when the minister is headed to places (often in Quebec) where he cannot easily take a commercial flight. Cannon's travel expenses appear low ($55,000 in two years) because the cost of his charter jets are recorded as zero. Cannon is now minister for foreign affairs.

Prompted by the Star's questions, some political aides to Conservative ministers contacted the paper to say that some current public servants and members of the previous Liberal government also had some whopper travel bills.

An aide to former secretary of state for heritage Jason Kenney sent the Star an email explaining that Kenney flew on an $807 economy ticket to London, England, to attend a conference in November 2007. Up front in business class with a $4,697 ticket was a very embarrassed assistant deputy minister from the same department. Kenney's aide was responding to a question about Kenney's trip to Istanbul ($10,500 airfare) as the Canadian government representative to the secretive Bilderberg conference, an annual meeting of top business and government leaders. Kenney's aide said Kenney went to Bilderberg to "converse about Canada's successful experience managing diversity."

An aide to former environment minister John Baird (he is now transport minister) emailed the Star to point out that Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion spent $27,000 to take five political aides to a Montreal environment conference when he was the environment minister. Records show the cost for the trip, to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in December 2005, was $23,560 and that he took seven aides: his chief of staff, director of communications, senior policy adviser, policy adviser, two special assistants and the director of parliamentary affairs.

Dion's staff did not respond to requests for an interview.

Government travel costs have become easier to access thanks to a policy called Proactive Disclosure. Each government department must post its travel expenses, per person, within three months of each trip. Before 2004, the information could only be obtained via an access to information request.

But the federal records don't reveal the full story of a trip. For example, an entry from 2007 shows that Ian Brodie, former chief of staff to Prime Minister Harper, took a $16,925 flight to Australia in May 2007. He went on his own and the trip is described only as "chief of staff's visit to Australia."

Asked about the 11-day trip, a spokesperson for Brodie said the trip was "in advance of the APEC Summit" which was held in September. Trip records show that Harper's office sent three advance staffers in July to prepare for his involvement in the Asia Pacific Economic Summit. The spokesperson would not comment on a press report in an Australian newspaper that at least part of the reason for Brodie's visit was to thank members of the ruling John Howard government for providing advice that helped the Stephen Harper government get elected —–and possibly return the favour by advising Howard on his upcoming election (Howard lost that November).

Expense records can be viewed by the public, for free, at www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pd-dp/gr-rg/index-eng.asp.





Kevin Donovan can be reached at 416-869-4425 or kdonovan@thestar.ca.





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