The House of Representatives has launched an investigation into a provision in spending rules that allowed lawmakers to charge hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses over the past year for attending caucuses related to party conventions.
Officials are also being asked to recommend ways the rules could be strengthened or improved.
Members of the Home Affairs and Economics Committee, which oversees the operations of the House of Commons and its spending, adopted Liberal MP Mark Gerresen's proposal to create an exception to the general rule that prohibits MPs from claiming expenses related to partisan events. It was investigated. Political party convention.
“I'm hopeful that we can give some direction to the staff here to get back on track and make some recommendations on how to tighten these loopholes,” Gerretsen told the board. House of Commons.
Conservative MP Andrew Scheer disputed suggestions there were loopholes in the spending rules, saying they were agreed by all parties in 2011.
“He's portrayed this as a loophole, but it was quite the opposite – it wasn't a loophole,” said Scheer, who was House speaker at the time and a member of the BOIE. “It was a deliberate decision by the committee to have some rules around caucuses and travel.”
Scheer also called on House of Commons officials to investigate the costs of caucus meetings held outside Ottawa outside the party conference.
The Conservative, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois all hold caucuses in parallel with their conventions, but the Liberal Party decided in 2014 not to use this provision of the rules. However, the party does hold caucuses outside Ottawa and MPs claim travel expenses for those meetings.
Conservative House of Commons Leader Andrew Scheer said the committee should consider the cost of caucuses held outside of Ottawa. (Adrian Wilde/Canadian Press)
“National caucuses are held regularly outside of Ottawa in the form of camps,” Scheer said, listing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expenses that Liberal MPs have claimed for travel to the last few caucuses outside Ottawa.
“If the Liberals characterize this as a loophole, then it's clearly a loophole that the government should be looking at and presenting options for rule changes on that as well.”
CBC News reports that a provision in the House of Commons spending rules allows MPs to claim $538,314 in travel, lodging, meals and parliamentary incidental expenses for attending caucus meetings related to the party convention starting in May 2023, including more than $84,000 for “designated travelers,” often spouses of MPs.
Under House rules, lawmakers generally cannot claim expenses related to partisan political activities such as party conferences or fundraising events, but they can claim expenses related to national caucuses, which are considered part of their parliamentary duties.
If a political party holds a national caucus on the same date, time and location as its convention, members of Congress, their employees and designated travelers may claim travel expenses, two nights' accommodation, meals and incidentals to attend the caucus, effectively subsidizing travel to the convention at the same time.
Conservative MPs account for 79 per cent of parliamentary spending, requesting $426,283 from the House of Commons office budget to go to Quebec City in September 2023. Conservative MPs were the only Conservative MPs to claim travel expenses from parliament for their spouses to attend conference-related caucus meetings in the past year.
Conservative Party leader Patrick Houri addresses the crowd ahead of party leader Pierre Poilievre's speech at the Conservative Party convention in Quebec City, Friday, September 8, 2023. (Jacques Boissino/Canadian Press)
New Democrat MPs had the second-highest bill, requesting $83,087 from their parliamentary office budget to fly their MPs and 12 staff members to Hamilton in October 2023. The Bloc Quebecois, whose MPs are all Quebec residents, requested $28,943 from their parliamentary office budget to travel to Drummondville in May 2023, while Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet requested $594 from his House of Commons leader's budget, along with four staff members.
Lawmakers agreed to ask House staff to review the rules but criticized Gerretsen's letter for its political tone and references to loopholes.
NDP House of Representatives Leader Peter Julian defended the practice, saying holding a convention at the same time as a caucus could help MPs incorporate party resolutions on issues like pharmacare into their work on Parliament Hill. He said that there is a sex.
Julien is also concerned that Liberal MPs used their travel budget to come to Ottawa to attend parliament, which allowed them to stay in Ottawa over the weekend of the party's last convention. said.
Julien said the rules should not prevent parties from holding caucuses across Canada.
“Proposing that we only encourage party conventions and caucuses to be held in the metropolitan area would have a negative impact on this vast area.”
