MPs need to go further to ensure expense scandals don’t happen again: taxpayer watchd

[lone wolf]

During our own MPs' expenses scandal in 2009 one newspaper - I think it was the Telegraph - published a list of things which the MPs had been buying from their generous, taxpayer-funded expenses.

Some of them even bought packets of sweets or bars of chocolate or loo roll from taxpayers' money.

One item that stood out, though, was the "Stockholm" duck house which the then Conservative MP for Gosport, Sir Peter Viggers, bought for a floating island in a pond, and was designed to allow the ducks to take shelter from foxes and the cold. The duck house cost him (or, rather, the taxpayer) £1,645.

Since then, "duck house" has become a euphemism in Britain for such scandals.

The comedian Ben Miller is to star in a new London theatre comedy about the MPs' expenses scandal called The Duck House, written by Dan Patterson, who is the producer of the weekly satirical panel show Mock the Week, and Colin Swash, the writer of topical comedy panel show Have I Got News For You.

Sir Peter Viggers and his duck house

Pretty fancy gazebo, eh TONY?

 

[JLM]

This is a tough one & what is a reasonable amount....and what is a reasonable
expense?

I work away from home, much of the time in oilfield locations with oilfield pricing,
where the locals can't afford to eat locally. In the S.E. corner of Saskatchewan
the locals drive down to the USA when they take their families out for supper.

Recently I've been working about 500km's N.W. of home, and when I need some
hot food at the end of the day, I'm looking at $13 for a freak'n Hamburger with fries,
and another $4 for a bowl of soup, and another $5 or $6 for a small side Ceaser
salad....and another $3 for a cup of coffee to go with that. That's eating cheap too.

I'm assuming the options aren't as limited in Ottawa as they are in Unity, Sk. but
$50 can disappear pretty quickly. Next week I'll be working just above the U.S.
border in Saskatchewan where I can look forward to a chicken breast with a small
portion of cold-slaw and a few onces of vegetables and some fries and a piece of
garlic toast for about $20.....& I'll need two orders of that for supper....& I'll need a
bowl of cereal & a few pieces of toast at the bunkhouse before I go to bed. That's
one meal and I'd be hungry afterwords.

....and then what's a reasonable expence? Food for sure but what else? Is drycleaning
or a laundry service when away from home a reasonable expence? What about gum
or toiletries? The lines need to be clearly defined.

I hear you Ron, I know $10 for a hamburger with possibly some cole slaw is quite common. On the other end of the scale you have politicians and other gov't. officials able to claim $25 for breakfast, which for a lot of them means toast, coffee and a glass of O.J. Somewhere there has to be a happy medium. I don't think Duffy was doing without grub very often.

 

[PoliticalNick]

I hear you Ron, I know $10 for a hamburger with possibly some cole slaw is quite common. On the other end of the scale you have politicians and other gov't. officials able to claim $25 for breakfast, which for a lot of them means toast, coffee and a glass of O.J. Somewhere there has to be a happy medium. I don't think Duffy was doing without grub very often.

I think when it comes to MPs we pay them plenty of money to screw us over. They make more than most. They can buy their own breakfast like the rest of us.

 

[taxslave]

Lawmakers need to learn the meaning of "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth".

Never happen. Too many of them are lawyers and to a lawyer a lie is as good as the truth if you can get someone to believe it.

I hear you Ron, I know $10 for a hamburger with possibly some cole slaw is quite common. On the other end of the scale you have politicians and other gov't. officials able to claim $25 for breakfast, which for a lot of them means toast, coffee and a glass of O.J. Somewhere there has to be a happy medium. I don't think Duffy was doing without grub very often.

The simple solution would be to let them have the same as working people are permitted by Revenue Canada for living out as a no questions asked and receipts for anything else with clear rules on what can be bought without being vetted first.

 

[JLM]

I think when it comes to MPs we pay them plenty of money to screw us over. They make more than most. They can buy their own breakfast like the rest of us.

Yes & No, Nick. I wouldn't mind reimbursing a hard working politician the cost of a standard breakfast when he/she is on the road. When I was working and travelling I was allowed approx. $30 for meals and my son who is working in the oil patch (near Weyburn) gets a per diem, when he stays in a motel. It's these bastards who claim $25 (or more) for a cup of coffee at breakfast that really pisses me off. You take Pamela Wallin who claimed $1/2 million expenses over 3 years- that's $500 a day and we all know full well the bitch was spending some of that time at home when she wasn't incurring any expenses. That's the sh*t that's gotta stop and the sure way of doing that is to abolish the Senate.

 

[PoliticalNick]

I wouldn't mind reimbursing a hard working politician

As soon as you find one of those let me know.

 

[JLM]

As soon as you find one of those let me know.

I think a lot of them are for the first few months before they learn the ropes.

 

[tay]

Yes, I suppose if you don't check up on any potential 'expense scams' you will ensure they aren't happening..........






Conservative Senators expected to oppose Liberal motion calling on AG to audit MPs’ expenses








The Conservative majority in the Senate has signalled it will oppose a Liberal motion urging the House of Commons to invite Auditor General Michael Ferguson to conduct a sweeping audit of Commons spending, including MPs’ expenses, in the same way the Senate called in Mr. Ferguson for an audit of its own expenses.
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Newfoundland and Labrador Conservative Senator Elizabeth Marshall, chair of a special committee that has kept lines open to Mr. Ferguson since his office began its investigation of Senator expenses last year, told the Senate she will oppose the motion from Prince Edward Island Liberal Senator Percy Downe and argued it is up to the Commons to decide whether it wants its books under an audit inquiry.


Although Sen. Marshall spoke on her own behalf, addressing the Chamber after debate continued over Sen. Downe’s motion following the summer recess, her leadership position on a subcommittee of the Senate’s powerful Internal Economy Committee was a sign the government intends to defeat the motion and avoid a confrontation with the elected Commons.


Sen. Marshall argued that Sen. Down’s motion is too sweeping, and attempts to set conditions on how and when Mr. Ferguson’s office would conduct an audit, which Sen. Marshall said would infringe on the independence of the auditor general.




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Conservative Senators expected to oppose Liberal motion calling on AG to audit MPs’ expenses | hilltimes.com