OTTAWA - MPs and senators quietly tabled reports for $354,509 worth of junkets abroad before the stormy fall session of Parliament ended abruptly for an extended Christmas break.
The reports show all sides amicably shared excursions to some of the most exotic destinations in the world despite the angry exchanges during only 14 days of sittings after the election.
Combined with 19 excursions by groups of MPs and the Speakers of the Senate and House of Commons reported earlier, the trips bring the taxpayer bill for international parliamentary travel to $1,077,184 so far for 2008.
Critics note this form of discretionary spending by Parliament was not mentioned in the government restraint plan that sparked a bitter political standoff, though Conservatives had earlier hinted it would be.
The government instead proposed to reduce pay increases for MPs and senators and attempted to eliminate public subsidies for political parties.
A lobby group for small business and another private-sector watchdog over government spending say many of the trips amount to unnecessary spending that should be trimmed as Canadians face layoffs and watch their pension funds shrink.
A $123,604 voyage to the resort enclave of Nusa Dua, in Bali, Indonesia, stands out among the nine parliamentary association trips reported over the last two weeks.
At the end of April, four Canadian senators and five MPs and a staff of three began a six-day visit to Nusa Dua, site of the 2007 UN climate-change conference, for an assembly of the Interparliamentary Union.
Airfare alone for the Canadian delegation came to $95,642.
The House of Commons contingent consisted of former Liberal MP Sue Barnes, Bloc Quebecois MP France Bonsant, Liberal Mario Silva and Conservatives Blaine Calkins and Ted Menzies, who now is parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
In May, former Conservative Bob Mills, who was planning to quit politics and did not run in the fall election, and Liberal MP Massimo Pacetti journeyed to Vladivostok, Russia, for a one-day session of a committee of the association of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region.
The trip cost taxpayers $23,708, with transportation gobbling up $19,248. Accommodation for the one-day conference totalled $2,868.
A 10-day June visit to Paris, Normandy and Strasbourg, France, by two senators and two MPs, Conservative David Tilson and Liberal Scott Simms, cost $29, 379 in travel expenses and $21,120 for accommodation.
Conservative MPs Leon Benoit and Art Hanger, who had already announced he was retiring from politics, and Liberal MP John McKay along with Liberal Senator Percy Downe spent $25,453 on a three-day visit to Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey, in March.
Destinations by other senators and MPs this year included the archipelago kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, Mauritania, Andorra, a European principality that is entirely duty-free, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Finland, Mexico, Peru, London and Brussels.
Strasbourg was the destination for four separate delegations of MPs and senators during the year.
Trips abroad by senators and MPs have so far cost $832,840 this year, while the two Speakers have reported four delegations abroad at a total cost of $244,344.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Parliament should reduce travel spending while the economy slumps.
"It may not be the amount of money that's being spent that's important, as much as the optics of how it's being spent," said federation executive vice-president Garth Whyte.
Canadian Taxpayers Federation spokesman Scott Hennig agreed that parliamentarians should be counting their pennies along with their constituents.
"There are travel plans on in a lot of companies right now," he said. "You're seeing ordinary Canadians cut back on travel."
NDP MP Yvon Godin defended the travel as a learning experience for backbench MPs, who also have an opportunity to present Canadian views abroad outside government and diplomatic channels.
He said his participation in a delegation led by Commons Speaker Peter Milliken to Australia in August was an eye-opener.
"I saw the Senate in action, and I felt it was a real Senate, not just a rubber stamp," he said.
The NDP whip added he was also impressed with discipline in the Australian Parliament, where he witnessed the Speaker expel five MPs for rowdy behaviour.
