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As MPs tend to return to their ridings on weekends and during breaks in the parliamentary schedule, their primary residency hasn’t been questioned, at least in public, until now.

Many MPs own homes in the Ottawa area and collect $900 a month in residency expenses from the House towards upkeep costs.

Ontario land title records show Vellacott and his wife, Mary, bought a home on Bernice Court in the Ottawa suburb of Orléans in December 2004, paying $349,000.

He “necessarily spends a considerable amount of time during each year – on both sitting and non-sitting days – in Ottawa,” according to the application filed last week.

He bought the Ottawa home, he says, “to reduce the strain on his family, and particularly his two young sons, of being so often apart from Mr. Vellacott …”

Vellacott claims, however, that he always maintained a primary residence in Saskatchewan, living in Saskatoon then moving in 2008 to a farm outside of town. He says he pays taxes and votes in Saskatchewan and has vehicles and health insurance registered there, and will eventually pay capital gains tax on his Ottawa home because it is a secondary residence.

The Ottawa home saved taxpayers “many thousands of dollars over the past 10 years,” by reducing the number of return flights he made back to his riding, Vellacott claims.

Vellacott notes that MPs – like senators – are allowed to claim meals and incidental expenses at the per diem rate set by the board if their primary residence is more than 100 kilometres from the National Capital Region.