I don’t know if you saw the story in the newspaper. Joe Volpe, our federal minister of Immigration, spent almost $7,000 on 31 meals, and then charged it to taxpayers. (That’s over $220/meal!) His staff then rang up a $4,000 bill split over eight meals. ($500/meal of your money!)

So does this sort of thing go on all the time in Ottawa? Is it normal behavior? Is there really wild spending everywhere? Well, yes and no.

Yes, in that there are more: (useless) free trips, expensive meals, excessive expense accounts, and pointless spending then the public ever hear about. Yes, in that I’ve been to meetings in big, expensive boardrooms where there was extreme overstaffing. Twelve civil servants sat on one side of the table for two hours giving a briefing to MPs that one or at the most two bureaucrats could have presented.

No, in that many MPs don’t behave in such reckless manner. Some MPs don’t believe that the taxpayer is there to provide for their every want and need. In fact, I once watched one MP (Jason Kenny) almost single handedly stop a budget increase that would have cost taxpayers about $3 million/year. He did this even though some of the money would have come to his office budget. Principle was more important than quick cash.

There are good MPs and bad MPs from all parties when it comes to handling tax dollars. Unfortunately, my experience in Ottawa has taught me there are quite a few of the latter and not enough of the former.

I’m Brad Trost, your Member of Parliament, and I welcome your feedback. Write or call my offices.