MPs spend over $123.6M in office and other expenses
Members of Parliament spent a combined $123.6 million in overall expenses for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2013, up $2.3 million over the previous year, according to a yearly Commons report published on Monday.
MPs spent over $67 million in employees salaries and service contracts, $25 million in travel expenses, and $15 million in office expenses including cellphones and postage.
Members of the House of Commons also spent over $6 million in printing expenses including householders and partisan 10-percenters, over $5 million in advertising costs, and over $1.6 million in hospitality and other events.
Each MP receives an annual office budget of $284,700. who live in remote or who represent larger ridings receive more money on top of the basic office budget.
The annual office budget is intended for MPs to put toward employee salaries, service contracts, advertising, constituency office leases, office operating costs, some travel expenses and other expenses.
MPs receive an annual travel budget of $26,238 plus daily allowances for food and other costs while they are in Ottawa on parliamentary business. MPs whose primary residence is located more than 100 kilometres from the capital can also claim housing expenses.
The House of Commons also provides MPs with additional financial resources to cover the costs of their parliamentary functions.
The MPs expenditure report is presented in six categories:
Conservative MPs made the list of the top 10 biggest spenders for the last year, led by
Fletcher was the first quadriplegic person elected to the House of Commons. Without this added expense, Fletcher's expenditures would be lower than average at $352,773.22.
Five of the 10 lowest spending MPs, who served the full year as elected officials, were also Conservatives with Prime Minister Stephen Harper ranking second on that list. Harper benefits from a separate budget as prime minister which the leader of the Opposition does not.
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has said all Liberal MPs have committed to proactively disclosing the details of their travel and hospitality expenses incurred by them or their staff beginning this fall.
