Let's Head Them Off At The Pass Stephen

Disclosure means disclosure. First these expenses have to listed somewhere and they should be made public ASAP. Second elected officials should not be accepting freebies from people the government does business with and if they do a record should be kept and published. Perception, perception, perception......

Tory minister racks up $150,000 in plane rentals

Updated Sun. May. 6 2007 8:16 PM ET

Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn spent almost $150,000 on rental aircraft flying around Quebec last year but didn't declare any of the flights as a travel expense, documents show.

In fact, the majority of the flights on privately hired planes don't show up anywhere in Blackburn's public disclosure of ministerial travel and were only revealed through an Access to Information request by NDP researchers.

NDP MP Pat Martin says it's all part of a "disturbing lack of transparency'' in the minority Conservative government.

"We don't mind ministers spending. It's normal,'' said Martin. "We want to know how much and how.''

Blackburn also serves as Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minister for economic development in Quebec, and it was apparently in this role that he used the charters. But only eight of about 25 contracted flights are listed in his quarterly "proactive disclosure" of expenses for 2006, which cover both labour and economic development duties.

In each of those eight trips, the Conservative minister listed air fare costs as zero.

In fact, those flights cost Canadian taxpayers more than $93,000 in aircraft rental.

At least another 14 trips totaling more than $56,000 by rented aircraft on which Blackburn is listed as a passenger are nowhere to be found in the minister's public travel disclosures. There were also 10 flights involving four different backbench Quebec Conservative MPs that cost another $30,000.

Blackburn did publicly post $11,138 worth of flights on commercial airlines in 2006, but nothing for rentals.

The totals were only revealed by cross-referencing the government's aircraft rental logs, which show passenger manifests, dates, destinations and costs -- obtained under the Access to Information law -- against the "proactive disclosures'' of ministers on their web sites.

Blackburn's office denies he is trying to hide anything.

"A big part of the minister's expenses are related to his work for the department, so they pay for it and disclose it,'' said Michel Lalonde, Blackburn's chief of staff.

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