Post by litigator on Apr 16, 2007 9:28:39 GMT -5
NO WONDER WE CAN"T GET OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TO HELP WITH THE CAS, THEY ARE TOO BUSY TRAVELLING WITH CAS WORKERS AND MISAPPROPRIATING OUR TAX DOLLARS TOO!!!!
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
Venice is one of the spots listed under a secretive program run by the legislative program. Ontario MPPs have been flying high at taxpayers expense using funds from an internal legislative budget that's hidden from public scrutiny, Sun Media has learned.
Ontario members of the Assemblee Parlementaire De La Francophonie (APF) -- an international group of officials from French-speaking jurisdictions -- have been to Louisiana, Hanoi, the Canary Islands and Italy during the last six weeks alone.
The funds for the Ontario APF come out of the provincial Board of Internal Economy, a committee chaired by the Speaker that includes members from each provincial party. The budget has gone up 77% this year, in part because of the MPPs' 25% pay hike.
Speaker Michael Brown was not available to discuss the budget Friday having flown to Cyprus to attend the mid-year executive committee meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Brown is away all this week while the legislature is sitting.
NDP MPP Peter Kormos said taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent, and he'll introduce a private member's bill shortly to make the Speaker's budget accessible to Freedom of Information requests.
"There's a phenomenon of junket junkies and they're like secret drinkers because they don't want anybody to know that they're going on these taxpayer-funded and first-class-all-the-way vacations and tours," Kormos said. Kormos said the various parliamentarian associations "secretly" funded through the Speaker are little more than "junket clubs."
Sun Media interviewed two MPPs who are on the executive of the Ontario APF.
NDP MPP Gilles Bisson, who went to Louisiana while the legislature was sitting during the last week of March for a "Section President's Conference of the Americas Region," said he learned about the on-going struggles to rebuild New Orleans after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and listened to a lecture on Acadian history.
"I resisted for years, not travelling with any of the parliamentary associations, because like you're suggesting I thought, it's just a whole bunch of free travel," Bisson said. "I started about maybe five or six years ago attending some of these meetings, first in Quebec City and then in Ottawa and travelled to, let's see, I've been to Italy, I've been to Monaco, a few other places as part of these committee hearings, and I found them really beneficial as a member. It taught me, for example, how other democracies operate."
A preliminary program for the Louisiana trip, obtained by Sun Media, shows the two-day meeting in Lafayette and Baton Rouge also included an evening boat ride and Cajun dinner, lunch at the Official Governor's residence and at Don's Seafood and Steakhouse courtesy of the City of Lafayette, guided tours of the Old Capital and Louisiana State Museum and a wrap-up jambalaya dinner and concert at the "Blue Moon Saloon."
Bisson said his plane and hotel costs were covered by the Ontario taxpayer, but Louisiana picked up the tab for the boat ride and other tours. Bisson said he never bills taxpayers for alcohol and often uses travel points to cover costs.
According to the international APF's web site, the organization brings together parliamentarians from 73 parliaments and interparliamentary organizations on five continents.
Its main mission is to promote and defend democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, the international influence of the French language and cultural diversity, the site says.
Provincial governments in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and the Canadian government all have separate chapters of APF.
Liberal MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde, president of the Ontario APF, said that in March Liberal MPP Monique Smith went to the Canary Islands to discuss women's issues, NDP MPP Rosario Marchese went to Italy to discuss politics and former Liberal and soon to be Tory MPP Tim Peterson went to Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss world trade.
"I just asked (Peterson) about 10 minutes ago -- I want his report of that," Lalonde said Thursday when interviewed by Sun Media.
Lalonde said the APF annual budget is less than $100,000.
Lalonde confirmed he has been to France numerous times on APF business.
The United Nations often asks the APF head office in Paris to supply French-speaking observers for elections in emerging democracies, he said.
Lalonde said he's been to Africa repeatedly for this purpose, and the UN foots the bill.
Kormos said he's seen the agendas for many "junkets" by the APF and other parliamentary associations and only rarely did they include such lofty goals.
Most trips focused on fun with only light duties to justify the expense, Kormos said.
The Ontario APF hosted members of the organization from France, Belgium, Africa and other provinces last year, taking them on a boat tour of Lake Ontario and showing them the winery industry
By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
Venice is one of the spots listed under a secretive program run by the legislative program. Ontario MPPs have been flying high at taxpayers expense using funds from an internal legislative budget that's hidden from public scrutiny, Sun Media has learned.
Ontario members of the Assemblee Parlementaire De La Francophonie (APF) -- an international group of officials from French-speaking jurisdictions -- have been to Louisiana, Hanoi, the Canary Islands and Italy during the last six weeks alone.
The funds for the Ontario APF come out of the provincial Board of Internal Economy, a committee chaired by the Speaker that includes members from each provincial party. The budget has gone up 77% this year, in part because of the MPPs' 25% pay hike.
Speaker Michael Brown was not available to discuss the budget Friday having flown to Cyprus to attend the mid-year executive committee meeting of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
Brown is away all this week while the legislature is sitting.
NDP MPP Peter Kormos said taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent, and he'll introduce a private member's bill shortly to make the Speaker's budget accessible to Freedom of Information requests.
"There's a phenomenon of junket junkies and they're like secret drinkers because they don't want anybody to know that they're going on these taxpayer-funded and first-class-all-the-way vacations and tours," Kormos said. Kormos said the various parliamentarian associations "secretly" funded through the Speaker are little more than "junket clubs."
Sun Media interviewed two MPPs who are on the executive of the Ontario APF.
NDP MPP Gilles Bisson, who went to Louisiana while the legislature was sitting during the last week of March for a "Section President's Conference of the Americas Region," said he learned about the on-going struggles to rebuild New Orleans after hurricanes Katrina and Rita and listened to a lecture on Acadian history.
"I resisted for years, not travelling with any of the parliamentary associations, because like you're suggesting I thought, it's just a whole bunch of free travel," Bisson said. "I started about maybe five or six years ago attending some of these meetings, first in Quebec City and then in Ottawa and travelled to, let's see, I've been to Italy, I've been to Monaco, a few other places as part of these committee hearings, and I found them really beneficial as a member. It taught me, for example, how other democracies operate."
A preliminary program for the Louisiana trip, obtained by Sun Media, shows the two-day meeting in Lafayette and Baton Rouge also included an evening boat ride and Cajun dinner, lunch at the Official Governor's residence and at Don's Seafood and Steakhouse courtesy of the City of Lafayette, guided tours of the Old Capital and Louisiana State Museum and a wrap-up jambalaya dinner and concert at the "Blue Moon Saloon."
Bisson said his plane and hotel costs were covered by the Ontario taxpayer, but Louisiana picked up the tab for the boat ride and other tours. Bisson said he never bills taxpayers for alcohol and often uses travel points to cover costs.
According to the international APF's web site, the organization brings together parliamentarians from 73 parliaments and interparliamentary organizations on five continents.
Its main mission is to promote and defend democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, the international influence of the French language and cultural diversity, the site says.
Provincial governments in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and the Canadian government all have separate chapters of APF.
Liberal MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde, president of the Ontario APF, said that in March Liberal MPP Monique Smith went to the Canary Islands to discuss women's issues, NDP MPP Rosario Marchese went to Italy to discuss politics and former Liberal and soon to be Tory MPP Tim Peterson went to Hanoi, Vietnam, to discuss world trade.
"I just asked (Peterson) about 10 minutes ago -- I want his report of that," Lalonde said Thursday when interviewed by Sun Media.
Lalonde said the APF annual budget is less than $100,000.
Lalonde confirmed he has been to France numerous times on APF business.
The United Nations often asks the APF head office in Paris to supply French-speaking observers for elections in emerging democracies, he said.
Lalonde said he's been to Africa repeatedly for this purpose, and the UN foots the bill.
Kormos said he's seen the agendas for many "junkets" by the APF and other parliamentary associations and only rarely did they include such lofty goals.
Most trips focused on fun with only light duties to justify the expense, Kormos said.
The Ontario APF hosted members of the organization from France, Belgium, Africa and other provinces last year, taking them on a boat tour of Lake Ontario and showing them the winery industry