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The army's problem general; a B.C. plane crash; a hospital closes: Monday's A1 headlines and daybook

The army's problem general; a B.C. plane crash; hospital closings: Listen to my five-minute audio roundup of what's on the front pages of the country's newspapers plus highlights from Monday's Parliamentary daybook by clicking on the link below.

Listen!
You can also get these audio summaries automatically every day via podcast from iTunes or via an RSS feed by subscribing to my AudioBoo stream. Both the iTunes link and the RSS link are at my profile at AudioBoo.fm. Lookin the top right corner of the “Boos” box.

Why not use cheap soldiers instead of expensive cops for G8 security? Fear of Liberal opprobrium, says Tory minister

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews is one of those politicians who, if they think they see a chance to take a shot at the opposition, they take it. There are politicians like that on all sides of the political spectrum.

I raise that point because I think that instinct must surely explain this odd exchange, aired today on CTV's Question Period, in which host Craig Oliver discusses the $930-million tab for the security of the G8 and G20 summits with Toews. The summits are to be held on the same weekend in Canada at the end of June. The government had originally believed security would be somewhere around $150 million.

Oliver, like many Canadians and many journalists, wonders why the government just didn't use the army to guard world leaders rather than pay overtime, etc. to unionized police forces like the RCMP and OPP. Toews presents an odd argument: If we went with the soldiers, the Liberals would have got upset:

OLIVER: You're spending hundreds of millions of dollars here on RCMP overtime.

TOEWS: Yes.

OLIVER: Who made the decision not to use the army more, especially for rather simple security jobs like perimeter defence and things like that? Their basic salaries are dramatically lower and they don't get overtime. I mean why didn't you use the army?

TOEWS: Well we did, in fact, use the army in the Olympics. It's quite another thing when you start bringing the army in a civilian context, into a civilian setting. You know, of course, what the opposition parties would say, the Liberals, they would say the army in streets with guns. Do you remember that advertisement? It's exactly the kind of fear that Liberals want to invoke in terms of Canadians. Canadians understand that in a democracy you have the police rather than the army in the streets. And so those are political decisions you make, but I think they're very, from a perception point of view, very, very important.

OLIVER: So the fact that you were worried about what the Liberals might say could have cost Canadians a couple hundred million dollars?

TOEWS: What I'm very concerned about is that Canada has certain principles. We are a democratic nation. We don't resort to the military in our streets unless we come to very extreme circumstances. We obviously are working closely with the military on this, but we believe that the best, the best organization to conduct the security in a civilian context are police rather than military.

Millions for Harris paintings; "Napoleon" Marin; and prison inmates pay to talk

Millions for Harris paintings; “Napoleon” Marin; and prison inmates pay to talk; Listen to my five-minute audio roundup of what's on the front pages of the country's newspapers plus highlights from Friday's Parliamentary daybook by clicking on the link below.

Listen!
You can also get these audio summaries automatically every day via podcast from iTunes or via an RSS feed by subscribing to my AudioBoo stream. Both the iTunes link and the RSS link are at my profile at AudioBoo.fm. Lookin the top right corner of the “Boos” box.

MPs expenses for telephone: Mourani spent most; Milliken spent least

MPs report the summary totals of their expenses once a year. You can review the data yourself [PDF] for the most recent year for which information is available – fiscal 2009, also known as the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2009. This is the only document provided by the Board of Internal Economy, the nine-MP committee that meets in secret to supervise the expenditure of more than $500 million a year associated with the operations of the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament.

What I've done is take the Member's Expenditure's Report and dumped the data in that PDF into a spreadsheet so that I can present some comparisons and analysis. This is one of several posts with some of those summaries and analyses.

Member's Office Budget: Telephone

The central budget for the House of Commons may be charged by MPs for the following under Telephone: “four lines, one fax line and one toll-free number for the primary constituency office telephone services and long-distance charges; a maximum of four wireless devices and services with three voice plans and one data plan.”

Because there was a general election in the middle of this fiscal year, not every MP served for the full fiscal year. Among those that did serve the entire 12 months, the average expenditure on MOB-Advertising was: $7,594.

Here's the top 20 biggest-spending MPs in this category:

  1. Maria Mourani (CPC) – Ahuntsic $34,205
  2. Deepak Obhrai (CPC) – Calgary East $28,543
  3. Patrick Brown (CPC) – Barrie $23,685
  4. Sukh Dhaliwal (LPC) – Newton-North Delta $23,530
  5. Russ Hiebert (CPC) – South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale $23,148
  6. Glen Pearson (LPC) – London North Centre $22,782
  7. Ruby Dhalla (LPC) – Brampton-Springdale $21,553
  8. Mark Holland (LPC) – Ajax-Pickering $20,874
  9. Dean Allison (CPC) – Niagara West-Glanbrook $20,212
  10. Irwin Cotler (LPC) – Mount Royal $19,653
  11. Mario Silva (LPC) – Davenport $19,487
  12. Rob Clarke (CPC) – Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River $19,294
  13. Bob Rae (LPC) – Toronto Centre $19,253
  14. Maria Minna (LPC) – Beaches-East York $19,074
  15. Thomas Mulcair (NDP) – Outremont $19,032
  16. Rodger Cuzner (LPC) – Cape Breton-Canso $18,935
  17. Helena Guergis (IND) – Simcoe-Grey $18,931
  18. Gord Brown (CPC) – Leeds-Grenville $18,900
  19. Ève-Mary Thaï Thi Lac (BQ) – Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot $18,899
  20. Maurizio Bevilacqua (LPC) – Vaughan $18,135

And here's the bottom 20, starting with the MP who spent the least amount in this category:

  1. Peter Milliken (LPC) – Kingston and the Islands $4,308
  2. Jean-Yves Roy (BQ) – Haute-Gaspésie-La Mitis-Matane-Matapédia $4,470
  3. Garry Breitkreuz (CPC) – Yorkton-Melville $4,983
  4. Ed Komarnicki (CPC) – Souris-Moose Mountain $5,230
  5. Raynald Blais (BQ) – Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine $5,647
  6. Rick Casson (CPC) – Lethbridge $5,692
  7. Stephen Harper (CPC) – Calgary Southwest $6,052
  8. Marc Lemay (BQ) – Abitibi-Témiscamingue $6,086
  9. Greg Thompson (CPC) – New Brunswick Southwest $6,105
  10. Réal Ménard (BQ) – Hochelaga $6,265
  11. Mario Laframboise (BQ) – Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel $6,402
  12. Gordon O'Connor (CPC) – Carleton-Mississippi Mills $6,430
  13. Alex Atamanenko (NDP) – British Columbia Southern Interior $6,492
  14. Gilles Duceppe (BQ) – Laurier-Sainte-Marie $6,558
  15. Shawn Murphy (LPC) – Charlottetown $6,618
  16. Francis Scarpaleggia (LPC) – Lac-Saint-Louis $6,784
  17. Louis Plamondon (BQ) – Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-Bécancour $6,966
  18. Chuck Strahl (CPC) – Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon $7,055
  19. Todd Russell (LPC) – Labrador $7,149
  20. Ralph Goodale (LPC) – Wascana $7,171

MP's Expenses: Travel outside the constituency: Hiebert spent most; Cannon spent least

MPs report the summary totals of their expenses once a year. You can review the data yourself [PDF] for the most recent year for which information is available – fiscal 2009, also known as the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2009. This is the only document provided by the Board of Internal Economy, the nine-MP committee that meets in secret to supervise the expenditure of more than $500 million a year associated with the operations of the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament.

What I've done is take the Member's Expenditure's Report and dumped the data in that PDF into a spreadsheet so that I can present some comparisons and analysis. This is one of several posts with some of those summaries and analyses.

Goods and Services Provided by the House of Commons: Travel outside constituencies

The central budget for the House of Commons may be charged by MPs for the following under Travel: “(a) each Member is allowed a maximum of 64 return trips each fiscal year between Ottawa and their constituency and other parts of Canada . Four of these trips can also be used to travel to Washington, D.C., and the point of departure must be Ottawa, the Member’s constituency or the American border airport closest to their constituency. Opposition Party Leaders are entitled to an additional 16 return trips for a total of 80 return trips ; (b) while in travel status, each Member may be reimbursed for private or rented accommodation and for meals and incidental expenses up to the per diem rate, to a maximum of $25,092 per fiscal year.”

Because there was a general election in the middle of this fiscal year, not every MP served for the full fiscal year. Among those that did serve the entire 12 months, the average expenditure on MOB-Advertising was: $52,679

Here's the top 20 biggest-spending MPs in this category:

  1. Russ Hiebert (CPC) – South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale $214,360 (right)
  2. Jack Layton (NDP) – Toronto-Danforth $204,930
  3. Todd Russell (LPC) – Labrador $198,470
  4. Dennis Bevington (NDP) – Western Arctic $198,182
  5. Nathan Cullen (NDP) – Skeena-Bulkley Valley $194,333
  6. Jim Abbott (CPC) – Kootenay-Columbia $185,856
  7. Dominic LeBlanc (LPC) – Beauséjour $179,364
  8. Rodger Cuzner (LPC) – Cape Breton-Canso $177,140
  9. Rick Casson (CPC) – Lethbridge $174,578
  10. Chuck Strahl (CPC) – Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon $174,180
  11. Deepak Obhrai (CPC) – Calgary East $173,509
  12. Jim Prentice (CPC) – Calgary Centre-North $172,504
  13. James Lunney (CPC) – Nanaimo-Alberni $169,935
  14. Lynne Yelich (CPC) – Blackstrap $169,642
  15. Ujjal Dosanjh (LPC) – Vancouver South $169,004
  16. Scott Simms (LPC) – Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor $165,256
  17. Rob Clarke (CPC) – Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River $163,798
  18. Alex Atamanenko (NDP) – British Columbia Southern Interior $163,274
  19. Richard Harris (CPC) – Cariboo-Prince George $162,577
  20. Stockwell Day (CPC) – Okanagan-Coquihalla $158,821

And here's the bottom 20, starting with the MP who spent the least amount in this category:

  1. Lawrence Cannon (CPC) – Pontiac $1,839 (right)
  2. Scott Reid (CPC) – Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington $5,341
  3. Gordon O'Connor (CPC) – Carleton-Mississippi Mills $6,503
  4. John Baird (CPC) – Ottawa West-Nepean $8,086
  5. Marcel Proulx (LPC) – Hull-Aylmer $8,609
  6. Pierre Poilievre (CPC) – Nepean-Carleton $10,239
  7. David McGuinty (LPC) – Ottawa South $12,056
  8. Royal Galipeau (CPC) – Ottawa-Orléans $13,618
  9. Paul Dewar (NDP) – Ottawa Centre $14,797
  10. Guy Lauzon (CPC) – Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry $15,561
  11. Peter Milliken (CPC) – Kingston and the Islands $17,515
  12. Mauril Bélanger (LPC) – Ottawa-Vanier $18,225
  13. Pierre Lemieux (CPC) – Glengarry-Prescott-Russell $18,440
  14. Réal Ménard (BQ) – Hochelaga $18,759
  15. Bernard Patry (CPC) – Pierrefonds-Dollard $22,889
  16. Richard Nadeau (BQ) – Gatineau $23,297
  17. Maria Mourani (CPC) – Ahuntsic $23,713
  18. Francine Lalonde (BQ) – La Pointe-de-l'Île $27,219
  19. Stephen Harper (CPC) – Calgary Southwest $27,492
  20. Robert Carrier (BQ) – Alfred-Pellan $27,868

MPs Expenses: Member's Office Budgets: Levesque is tops; Harper is cheapest

MPs report the summary totals of their expenses once a year. You can review the data yourself [PDF] for the most recent year for which information is available – fiscal 2009, also known as the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2009. This is the only document provided by the Board of Internal Economy, the nine-MP committee that meets in secret to supervise the expenditure of more than $500 million a year associated with the operations of the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament.

What I've done is take the Member's Expenditure's Report and dumped the data in that PDF into a spreadsheet so that I can present some comparisons and analysis. This is one of several posts with some of those summaries and analyses.

Member's Office Budget

From the annual report: “Effective April 1, 2008, the basic annual Member’s Office Budget for all constituencies was $280,500. Members who represent densely populated constituencies receive an Elector Supplement, ranging from $8,570 to $51,370. Members who represent constituencies of 500 square kilometres or more receive a Geographic Supplement, ranging from $4,740 to $52,120. Members who represent constituencies listed in Schedule 3 of the Canada Elections Act receive an additional supplement of $16,580 or $19,900.” The Member's Office Budget is made up of four components: Staff and Other Expenses, Travel, Advertising, and Office Lease.

Because there was a general election in the middle of this fiscal year, not every MP served for the full fiscal year. Among those that did serve the entire 12 months, the average expenditure on MOB-Advertising was: $289,919.

Here's the top 20 biggest-spending MPs in this category:

  1. Yvon Lévesque (BQ) – Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou $356,086 (right)
  2. Dennis Bevington (NDP) – Western Arctic $352,694
  3. Charlie Angus (NDP) – Timmins-James Bay $347,726
  4. Nathan Cullen (NDP) – Skeena-Bulkley Valley $345,020
  5. Marc Lemay (BQ) – Abitibi-Témiscamingue $343,445
  6. Jay Hill (CPC) – Prince George-Peace River $332,733
  7. Gérard Asselin (BQ) – Manicouagan $329,513
  8. James Lunney (CPC) – Nanaimo-Alberni $321,762
  9. Meili Faille (BQ) – Vaudreuil-Soulanges $320,679
  10. Richard Harris (CPC) – Cariboo-Prince George $320,414
  11. Rob Merrifield (CPC) – Yellowhead $320,346
  12. Daryl Kramp (CPC) – Prince Edward-Hastings $318,894
  13. Scott Simms (LPC) – Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor $318,362
  14. Maurice Vellacott (CPC) – Saskatoon-Wanuskewin $316,645
  15. David Sweet (CPC) – Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale $316,069
  16. Mario Laframboise (BQ) – Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel $315,276
  17. Stockwell Day (CPC) – Okanagan-Coquihalla $315,095
  18. Jean-Yves Laforest (BQ) – Saint-Maurice-Champlain $315,002
  19. Scott Reid (CPC) – Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington $314,220
  20. Pierre Paquette (BQ) – Joliette $314,218

And here's the bottom 20, starting with the MP who spent the least amount in this category:

  1. Stephen Harper (CPC) – Calgary Southwest $189,774
  2. Colin Mayes (CPC) – Okanagan-Shuswap $219,760
  3. David Anderson (CPC) – Cypress Hills-Grasslands $223,310
  4. John Baird (CPC) – Ottawa West-Nepean $227,675
  5. Derek Lee (LPC) – Scarborough-Rouge River $234,837
  6. Massimo Pacetti (LPC) – Saint-Léonard-Saint-Michel $236,837
  7. Ed Fast (CPC) – Abbotsford $242,426
  8. André Arthur (IND) – Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier $244,416
  9. Mike Lake (CPC) – Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont $245,388
  10. Deepak Obhrai (CPC) – Calgary East $248,254
  11. Peter Van Loan (CPC) – York-Simcoe $249,225
  12. Yasmin Ratansi (LPC) – Don Valley East $252,871
  13. Dave MacKenzie (CPC) – Oxford $254,301
  14. Yvon Godin (NDP) – Acadie-Bathurst $254,721
  15. Gordon O'Connor (CPC) – Carleton-Mississippi Mills $255,548
  16. Ujjal Dosanjh (LPC) – Vancouver South $256,237
  17. James Moore (CPC) – Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam $256,365
  18. Chuck Strahl (CPC) – Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon $257,925
  19. Kevin Sorenson (CPC) – Crowfoot $258,234
  20. Paul Dewar (NDP) – Ottawa Centre $259,991

MPs' Expenses: Riding Advertising: From biggest spender, Levesque to cheapest, Clement and Karygiannis

MPs report the summary totals of their expenses once a year. You can review the data yourself [PDF] for the most recent year for which information is available – fiscal 2009, also known as the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2009. This is the only document provided by the Board of Internal Economy, the nine-MP committee that meets in secret to supervise the expenditure of more than $500 million a year associated with the operations of the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament.

What I've done is take the Member's Expenditure's Report and dumped the data in that PDF into a spreadsheet so that I can present some comparisons and analysis. This is one of several posts with some of those summaries and analyses.

Member's Office Budget: Advertising

From the annual report: “allows Members to communicate with their constituents about their office location and contact information, assistance and services they provide and meeting announcements related to the discharge of their constituency functions, and to issue congratulatory messages or greetings to constituents and opinions or statements in support of their parliamentary functions. The Advertising Expenses Account is limited to 10% of the Member’s Office Budget.”

Because there was a general election in the middle of this fiscal year, not every MP served for the full fiscal year. Among those that did serve the entire 12 months, the average expenditure on MOB-Advertising was: $14,701

Here's the top 20 biggest-spending MPs in this category:

  1. Yvon Lévesque (BQ) – Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou $34,305 (right)
  2. Roger Gaudet (BQ) – Montcalm $30,812
  3. Meili Faille (BQ) – Vaudreuil-Soulanges $30,616
  4. Guy André (BQ) – Berthier-Maskinongé $30,585
  5. Jim Flaherty (CPC) – Whitby-Oshawa $30,496
  6. Robert Bouchard (BQ) – Chicoutimi-Le Fjord $30,492
  7. Steven Blaney (CPC) – Lévis-Bellechasse $30,400
  8. Jean-Yves Laforest (BQ) – Saint-Maurice-Champlain $30,393
  9. Denis Lebel (CPC) – Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean $30,092
  10. Claude DeBellefeuille (BQ) – Beauharnois-Salaberry $29,989
  11. Pierre Paquette (BQ) – Joliette $29,983
  12. André Bellavance (BQ) – Richmond-Arthabaska $29,923
  13. Raymonde Folco (LPC) – Laval-Les Îles $29,685
  14. Sylvie Boucher (CPC) – Beauport-Limoilou $29,492
  15. John Baird (CPC) – Ottawa West-Nepean $29,477
  16. France Bonsant (BQ) – Compton-Stanstead $29,427
  17. Mario Laframboise (BQ) – Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel $29,258
  18. Christian Ouellet (BQ) – Brome-Missisquoi $29,233
  19. Josée Verner (CPC) – Louis-Saint-Laurent $29,229
  20. Louis Plamondon (BQ) – Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-Bécancour $29,146

And here's the bottom 20, starting with the MP who spent the least amount in this category:
  1. Tony Clement (CPC) – Parry Sound-Muskoka $0 (right, top)
  2. Jim Karygiannis (LPC) – Scarborough-Agincourt $0 (right, bottom)
  3. Jason Kenney (CPC) – Calgary Southeast $129
  4. Paul Szabo (LPC) – Mississauga South $150
  5. Peter MacKay (CPC) – Central Nova $180
  6. John Cummins (CPC) – Delta-Richmond East $238
  7. Stephen Harper (CPC) – Calgary Southwest $280
  8. Albina Guarnieri (LPC) – Mississauga East-Cooksville $617
  9. Dan McTeague (LPC) – Pickering-Scarborough East $656
  10. Jim Abbott (CPC) – Kootenay-Columbia $948
  11. Charlie Angus (NDP) – Timmins-James Bay $997
  12. Rick Casson (CPC) – Lethbridge $1,070
  13. Yasmin Ratansi (LPC) – Don Valley East $1,270
  14. Rob Anders (CPC) – Calgary West $1,285
  15. John McKay (LPC) – Scarborough-Guildwood $1,328
  16. Navdeep Bains (LPC) – Mississauga-Brampton South $1,730
  17. Dominic LeBlanc (LPC) – Beauséjour $1,742
  18. Carolyn Bennett (LPC) – St. Paul's $1,752
  19. Tony Martin (NDP) – Sault Ste. Marie $1,903
  20. Chuck Strahl (CPC) – Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon $1,931

Jaffer's passport problem; B.C. & Sask. grow; Michigan to build a bridge to Canada: Thursday's A1 headlines

Jaffer's passport problem; B.C. and Sask. are growing; and Michigan votes for a bridge to Canada; Listen to my five-minute audio roundup of what's on the front pages of the country's newspapers plus highlights from Thursday's Parliamentary daybook by clicking on the link below.

Listen!
You can also get these audio summaries automatically every day via podcast from iTunes or via an RSS feed by subscribing to my AudioBoo stream. Both the iTunes link and the RSS link are at my profile at AudioBoo.fm. Lookin the top right corner of the “Boos” box.

MPs Expenses: Office leasing costs – From Rodriguez to Benoit

MPs report the summary totals of their expenses once a year. You can review the data yourself [PDF] for the most recent year for which information is available – fiscal 2009, also known as the 12-month period ending on March 31, 2009. This is the only document provided by the Board of Internal Economy, the nine-MP committee that meets in secret to supervise the expenditure of more than $500 million a year associated with the operations of the House of Commons and the Library of Parliament.

What I've done is take the Member's Expenditure's Report and dumped the data in that PDF into a spreadsheet so that I can present some comparisons and analysis. This is one of several posts with some of those summaries and analyses.

Member's Office Budget: Office Lease

This is a simple category: MPs declare how much they paid to lease space back in their constituency for an office. Some MPs who live in ridings that are 500 square kilometres or bigger in size are allotted extra funds presumably so they can operate secondary or satellite constituency offices. 'Course, MPs do not report how many offices they rented or how many square feet they signed for so all we have is this summary information:

Here's the top 20 biggest-spending MPs in this category:

  1. Pablo Rodriguez (LPC) – Honoré-Mercier $55,786
  2. Jean-Pierre Blackburn (CPC) – Jonquière-Alma $54,836
  3. Gilles Duceppe (BQ) – Laurier-Sainte-Marie $50,567
  4. James Lunney (CPC) – Nanaimo-Alberni $46,681
  5. Albina Guarnieri (LPC) – Mississauga East-Cooksville $45,266
  6. Jim Prentice (CPC) – Calgary Centre-North $44,077
  7. Joy Smith (CPC) – Kildonan-St. Paul $42,737
  8. Bradley Trost (CPC) – Saskatoon-Humboldt $41,979
  9. Borys Wrzesnewskyj (LPC) – Etobicoke Centre $41,869
  10. Stéphane Dion (LPC) – Saint-Laurent-Cartierville $41,283
  11. Stephen Harper (CPC) – Calgary Southwest $41,132
  12. Chris Warkentin (CPC) – Peace River $39,702
  13. Dennis Bevington (NDP) – Western Arctic $39,396
  14. Denis Coderre (LPC) – Bourassa $38,936
  15. Diane Ablonczy (CPC) – Calgary-Nose Hill $38,057
  16. Rona Ambrose (CPC) – Edmonton-Spruce Grove $37,773
  17. Brian Storseth (CPC) – Westlock-St. Paul $37,631
  18. Lee Richardson (CPC) – Calgary Centre $36,818
  19. David Tilson (CPC) – Dufferin-Caledon $36,806
  20. Francis Scarpaleggia (LPC) – Lac-Saint-Louis $36,569

And here's the bottom 20, starting with the MP who spent the least amount in this category:

  1. Leon Benoit (CPC) – Vegreville-Wainwright $6,900
  2. Rob Clarke (CPC) – Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River $7,399
  3. Guy André (BQ) – Berthier-Maskinongé $8,183
  4. Garry Breitkreuz (CPC) – Yorkton-Melville $8,550
  5. Pat Martin (NDP) – Winnipeg Centre $8,662
  6. Stockwell Day (CPC) – Okanagan-Coquihalla $9,400
  7. Diane Finley (CPC) – Haldimand-Norfolk $9,600
  8. Jeff Watson (CPC) – Essex $9,600
  9. Brian Murphy (LPC) – Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe $10,575
  10. Paul Dewar (NDP) – Ottawa Centre $10,729
  11. Yvon Godin (NDP) – Acadie-Bathurst $11,100
  12. Wayne Easter (LPC) – Malpeque $11,100
  13. John Cummins (CPC) – Delta-Richmond East $11,149
  14. Kevin Sorenson (CPC) – Crowfoot $11,160
  15. Louis Plamondon (BQ) – Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-Bécancour $11,520
  16. Chris Charlton (NP) – Hamilton Mountain $11,631
  17. David Sweet (CPC) – Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale $12,067
  18. Mauril Bélanger (LPC) – Ottawa-Vanier $12,312
  19. Rodger Cuzner (LPC) – Cape Breton-Canso $12,495
  20. Vic Toews (CPC) – Provencher $12,756

Because there was a general election in the middle of this fiscal year, not every MP served for the full fiscal year. Among those that did serve the entire 12 months, the average expenditure on Office Leases was: $24,610

Rahim Jaffer's business card

Ian Harvey met with former MP Rahim Jaffer on Aug. 25, 2009 at the Le Castille Steakhouse in Mississauga, Ont. It was the one and only meeting Harvey had with Jaffer, according to testimony Harvey gave today at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. At that meeting — 10 months after Jaffer lost his Edmonton-area seat in in the 2008 general election – Harvey said this is the business card that Jaffer gave him at that meeting:

201005262252.jpg

And here is an excerpt of an exchange between Jaffer and NDP MP Pat Martin when Jaffer testified at the same committee back on April 21:

Mr. Pat Martin: Have you ever used your previous MP's business card during the course of promoting any private business?

Mr. Rahim Jaffer: Again, you're pulling these things out from a great source—your source—The Toronto Star.

Mr. Pat Martin: I want you to clarify this.

Mr. Rahim Jaffer: I can tell you, sir, that none of these things—

Mr. Pat Martin: Have you ever circulated your MP's business card after you ceased to be an MP?

Mr. Rahim Jaffer: I don't even understand what good that would provide. It would—

Mr. Pat Martin: It would only imply that you still have some sort of relationship to Parliament, even though you're no longer a member of Parliament.

Mr. Rahim Jaffer: As I said, I'll go back to my opening statement, because I think it's clear that—

Mr. Pat Martin: Can you answer that question first?

Mr. Rahim Jaffer: I told you I never did those things. These are allegations. I never would make unsubstantiated claims that I couldn't follow through. We're building a new business—

Mr. Pat Martin: This is your opportunity to make that case.

Mr. Rahim Jaffer: Will you let me finish, or do you want to keep cutting me off? If we're trying to build a business from the ground up that's based on credibility to deliver, the last thing we're going to do is make any claims that we can't deliver. I've told you over and over again throughout my testimony here, as well as in questions, that my number one concern was that my wife, who still served in the government, would never be in any conflict of interest. So I operated my business in that capacity.