Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Along with a lot of Canadians, I have been quite taken in by the discussion about Senator's expenses. A few of them seem to spend quite a bit of time on the road, In excess of $300,000 in travel costs is quite a bit particularly since I can fly from Regina to Montreal and back for about  $750 give or take a bit.

We have been told by some members of the Red Chamber that it is because of demand for their talents as public speakers etc. I never knew Canadians were so interested in what the senate or the Senator's do. I wonder.

If a Senator used to be, just lets say, a famous surfer.

When he travels to Biggar, Saskatchewan, Tofino, B.C. or to Come-by-Chance, Newfoundland to give a talk to the common folk,do you suppose it is so he can talk about the Senate and the workings of that esteemed institution or, surfing.

Does he earn a speakers fee?

Does the group that hired him have to compensate him for the cost of travel?

Canadians want to know the simple answer to these important questions because the Canadian taxpayer may just be being ripped off.

Dollars to donuts there is a bit of double dipping going on and as long as their is a brief mention of Canada's Action plan, Stephen Harper will defend them to the wall.

Pinocchio Peter Strikes Again

You have to admit, it does look a bit like our Defence Minister

I am no fan of the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation but the media seems to love the right wing lobby group these days. Probably because the CTF does the digging journalists don’t seem to have the time for these days.

To be honest I usually find the CTF annoying and I usually think they should be left alone. If they aren’t going on about what the First Nations communities have done with the money, they are attacking public pensions or the cost of social programs. They are generally not nice people.

So you know, when they go after one of Harper’s gang of thugs, he must have done something, way over the top.

We all were a bit shocked when Peter McKay called up the helicopter flight, so he could leave an exclusive fishing lodge in Newfoundland to attend a photo-op in Ontario. He actually had the nerve to call it important government business. He tried to hide all this by claiming it was a search-and-rescue training exercise. No one bought that one and Peter’s nose grew a little longer..

Now, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has released new documents showing MacKay stayed in uber luxury hotels during trips to Germany and Turkey. During one stay in Munich, Mackay's bill was $1,452 per night during a two-night stay then in Istanbul MacKay's paid $770.00 a night.

Oh sorry, we old retired guys on pension, paid for it through our taxes, not Peter.

McKay also spent $4,752 for a pair of Executive Class tickets from Toronto to Edmonton so he could go to the grey Cup game. He had to be there to wallow in what most of us saw as the military's excessive presence in that event. 

Air Canada must have been jumping for joy. Those tickets booked in advance are about $700.

It was also revealed that young Peter spent $3,167 on a trip to Boston for a seafood show. The CTF commented "Again, Minister Mackay regularly attends this event, although the usefulness of a senior Canadian minister attending a “seafood show” is even more debatable than attending the Grey Cup," Who can blame him? I’d love to go to Boston and eat seafood but I wasn't invited. I just don’t think Peter could pass up those free oysters.