MP's expenses
 

I don't know if this is true or not?


Everyone should know about these figures before they go to cast their vote.
For those who pride themselves on their ability to separate needs from wants,
and have not been insolvent, Harper has proven to be a competent leader as
shown by the following expenses claimed by various MP's.

For the most recent 12 month on-line report on MP expenses (excluding salaries) here is a sample:

NDP

Jack Layton $628,913

Olivia Chow $530,304 ( Jack's wife!)

Megan Leslie $502,279

Pat Martin $508,773

LIBERAL

Michael Ignatieff $570,984

CONSERVATIVE

Steven Harper $281,255

Peter MacKay $392,660.

The highest expense claim award goes to Jack Layton , leader of the NDP, followed by Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Liberals. Just think how much more these two could suck out of taxpayers if they ever got into power! Jack & Olivia (one family) managed to take over one million dollars in expenses in a 12 month period out of the public purse! Jack should ask Sheila Fraser the Auditor General to legitimize these exhorbitant "expenses" submitted by NDP members. Don't forget, these expenses are in addition to a MINIMUM of $147,700 per MP in salary dollars.!

Re: MP's expenses
 

Source?

Re: MP's expenses
 

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canad.../15867971.html

http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread...5234&cat_id=13

What a porker.............

Re: MP's expenses
 

But you should know, you're posting it. The article compares all of Layton's expenses with some of Harper's, saying that Harper has another budget through the PMO. In the edited form it's deliberately misleading, a last minute lie. Have you so little faith in your man that you can't find something that either boosts him honestly or degrades his opponents accurately?

Re: MP's expenses
 

I checked with the Houses of Parliament's website and it's accurate.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/PublicDisclosu...&Parl=40&Ses=3


It also tells me that the two local conservative MPs declared around $450 and 490K.

Harper doesn't seem to spend as much on staff as others. Maybe as PM he doesn't have to, or maybe he doesn't look after people as well as others. You can't tell much from lists of expenses without looking into why and to whom the money was given.

Re: MP's expenses
 

On the other hand my local conservative MP (Rick Norlock to name and shame him) has spent more on mailing out obviously party political "newsletters" at the tax payers expense, than any other MP in the country.


You dont think perhaps the fact that Harper, as PM, has access to other facilities for travel etc that the other leaders dont plays into these numebrs? Sometimes you need to look at the big picture. Same goes for other ministers, being in the government I suspect has its perks.

What do the figures look like for when the liberals were in power? I'd bet the conservative expenses are higher as a result.

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My missus does this stuff for a living. There is nothing she doesn't know about Treasury Board regulations, proactive disclosure etc. There are myriad ways to legally get around the rules. Precisely how an expense is described determines which pot of money it comes from. Not all expenditures have to be made public.

She authorises expense claims for people that are subject to disclosure. If they don't pass what she calls 'The Globe and Mail test', they get rejected.

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My local (Conservative) MP spent $527,000. Apparently, as a born again Christian, he believes in family values and takes his family with him whever he goes. At the public's expense.

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Came to me via email. Hence the disclaimer.

Re: MP's expenses
 

Thanks to Fledermaus for checking it out.

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And here's another unchecked email from the same source:

For all those who think the Sun shines out of Jack's bottom end....

The basic facts are as follows.

Layton and his wife Olivia Chow both sat on Toronto City Council for years before making the move to federal politics. While on City Council, they were making $100,000 a year. They used a fraudulent scheme to get into subsidized housing. What they did was register the house in the name of Chow's mother who was an unemployed immigrant. In this way, they lived for years in a taxpayer funded house while being paid $100,000 yearly from taxpayers. They only moved when a reporter exposed the story.

The real irony is that Chow styled herself as an advocate for the homeless on City Council.



It astounds me that the media never mention this. It was theft, pure and simple.



Today, Layton and Chow earn $350,000 together as MPs. They each get a housing allowance for living in Ottawa although they live together. According to House of Commons records for 2010, they spent one million dollars last year on travel and perks. Because they're MP's there is no detail. When asked, Layton said that most of it was for travel back to Toronto to visit their constituents. That comes out to $20,000 a week for travel. Toronto is 300 miles from Ottawa . Again, it's theft, pure and simple.



But speaking of simple, NDP loyalists see Jack and Olivia as the working man's friends. The simplistic media play up this image. Simplistic Canadians give Jack a free ride on trust.



Now the other night during the big debate Jack had the nerve to say we don't need more jails because all the crooks are already in the Senate. I think we better make Jack a Senator!

Re: MP's expenses
 

Happy to help a lazy Conservative. ;)

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Tory Party HQ at a guess.

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Thanks for sharing dubious and unchecked political diabtribe from a partisan source. It really adds something to the debate. Or not.;)

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Now try not to be too impartial will you?

( did you bother checking this one out cos I ain't got time as I'm wrestling with gluten free pizza dough)

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Lol. If someone sends me left leaning emails I'll post them too! Enjoy the pizza.

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Understand that I hate Jack Layton personally, if I saw him in the street I would spit on him in some small measure of retalitation for the harm he did during his years in power. I think he has sticky fingers and would no more trust him with something important than I would Steven Harper.

Nonetheless, the piece above, like the previous one, misrepresents the facts and appears to offer a contrast with the Conservative Party when none exists.

This is wrong:

"They used a fraudulent scheme to get into subsidized housing."

Coops are not subsidised. Residence in a Coop is not contigent upon the place of residence of one's mother-in-law. No theft involved.

Lies, bile and derivative of American politics. But then you know it's not true.

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well I don't have your email and I haven't read all of this article, it was posted as a link on FB.

http://ipolitics.ca/2011/04/27/democracy-harper-style/

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Yep, just been doing a bit of research, looks like you're right, he's just cheap.

Re: MP's expenses
 

An interesting read.

Sort of sums up my sentiments toward Mr. Harper.

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Why is it, I wonder, that those with a liberal/socialist bent always assume that those that don't agree with them are not intelligent?:

“Harper is on a course towards a very authoritarian populist government appealing over the heads of Parliament to the people with an enormous public-relations machine. The appeal is to the less educated and less sophisticated parts of society.”

Re: MP's expenses
 

Its a bit of a leap to say all those with a liberal/ socialist bent say that. Its just one persons blog aint it?


I dont think Ive ever questioned the intelligence of those that dont agree. The morality and concience perhaps, but not the intelligence:lol:

There certainly doesn't seem to be any monopoly on insulting the intelligence of the voter on either side of the political divide in my opinion.

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I too would spit on him in the street as he looks just like my annoying neighbour whose car inconveniently got in the way of our 2 trees that fell on it yesterday in the big storm!

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You are correct. I guess it is implicit that those that vote for a leader that wants to spend, spend, spend without explicitly stating how he will pay for such spending lack intelligence.

I should have been more specific, those with such a bent on this forum appear to believe that those that don't agree with their voting preferences lack intelligence or sophistication:p

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Im confused, its been a long day already...

Are you refering to the NDP, whose spending plans traditionally never have to add up because they have never before been in danger of actually having to carry them out, or the conservatives who seem happy to commit unspecified Billions to buy stealth fighters for prices that no one outside the conservative caucus seems to think make any sense, or super prisons that dont seem to have a price tag at all?

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Let us not forget Ed Broadbent, who railed and ranted about ten years ago about political opponents "double dipping," that is collecting a parliamentary pension while working in some elected or non elected position for the federal government. Shortly after the rants Broadbent returned to parliament as the leader of the NDP. I wrote to him twice and callled his office three times to ask if he was double dipping-collecting his parliamentary pension and his politician's salary-no response. For those who are interested, Broadbent was collecting his parliamentary pension of approximately $150k per annum at the time. That is three times today's national family income.

As for Jack and Olivia, not for nothing are they called the Duke and Duchess of downtown Toronto.

The marker I always lay down when considering a politician's appeal for my vote is simple: have you ever had a job? Ed Broadbent was at university until he was thirty, after which he went straight into parliament-I was still in high school. Jack Layton-another perpetual politician.

How any politician who has never experienced the reality of the daily life of those they seek to govern can claim to have their interests at heart makes me barf. Look at the profiles of all the politicians in parliament-are there any welders, shop assistants, engineers, carpenters, bus drivers-you get the picture? Sadly most are career politicians, no different from those of old who seemed to think they ruled by divine right.

A pox on them all.

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I've never heard of them being called that.

Ignatieff has worked as a journalist, foreign correspondent, broadcaster, and as a professor at a small US university.

Layton has a PhD from York (Political Science) and worked also as a professor at Ryerson before being elected to Toronto City Council.

Harper has a degree from somewhere or other in economics, but has never had a job outside of politics.

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Well, I did say a pox on them all. I am sure most readers would understand that although Ignatieff, Harper and Layton can claim to have secured paying employment, it was as members of the administrator class whom I believe have ill-served us.

When I talk about a job, I mean one that requires getting up at 5.30 am everyday and subjecting oneself to the discipline of the work and market place. Perhaps if they had, they and their ilk would understand the real concerns of regular folk.

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I've seldom had to get up at 5:30am for work. (and I'm grateful for that) Does that not make me regular folk?