Government travel paid by others worries opposition

P.E.I. Opposition leader Steven Myers is concerned a private group paid for Finance Minister Wes Sheridan to fly to London, and wonders how often these third-party-paid trips are happening.

In 2012, Finance Minister Wes Sheridan travelled to an online gaming conference in London. The trip did not appear on his ministerial expenses because it was paid for by the gaming initiative of P.E.I. The initiative is operated by the Mi’kmaq Confederacy, and funded by a loan from Innovation PEI.

Myers wonders if such a scheme for funding ministerial trips is appropriate.

“I'd like to know how many ministers of the Crown are travelling all over the world at somebody else's expense that we don't know about,” said Myers.

“Who are these people that are paying for government's travel? What is their agenda? What do they want to fly ministers around for at their cost. I mean, nobody is doing this out of the goodness of their heart.”

Sheridan was also pressed further on Tuesday for details of the London trip. He said he's gathering documents to show how much it cost.

“I'm very happily looking for these costs. Takes some time to do this,” he said.

“I can tell you here tonight that I flew economy, stayed two nights, I had no limo rides and stayed in a mid-level hotel. And came home.”

Sheridan said he's taken three other trips paid for by third parties, including the Canadian Labour Congress and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. Those trips did appear in his expense reports because government paid initially and was then reimbursed.

For mobile device users: Should cabinet ministers be allowed to take trips paid for by non-government agencies?