The Kinew government and opposition Tories are pointing fingers at each other over out-of-province travel expenses that have not been made public for more than a year.
NDP finance minister Adrien Sala criticized the previous Tory government for not publishing any travel expenses during their last six months in office, while interim Progressive Conservative leader Wayne Ewasko noted Premier Wab Kinew hasn’t released any of his travel expenses since he took the job last Oct. 18.
“Ultimately, they failed to follow the departmental reporting functions required by law,” Sala said Monday of the former Stefanson government.
Ruth Bonneville/Free Press Files
Manitoba finance minister Adrien Sala criticized the previous Tory government for not publishing any travel expenses during their last six months in office, while it was noted Premier Wab Kinew hasn’t released any of his travel expenses since he took the job in October, 2023.
“Our government is doing the legal work required to compile the Stefanson cabinet’s expenses as well as our own. We will post those reports online shortly (but) unfortunately cabinet confidence rules make it more time consuming to gather travel information from the previous government … we’re working through the clerk of the executive council to ensure the information is obtained while respecting cabinet confidence.”
Sala said the government is also taking steps to “reintroduce a proper tracking and reporting system in the civil service, which was not in use when we took office.
“We’re proud to strengthen rules that Heather Stefanson refused to follow.”
Ewasko fired back, blasting the NDP for not posting their own expenses for their entire first year in office.
“The NDP are making excuses and stalling because they don’t want Manitobans to know how much Wab Kinew and his cabinet have spent on travel, meals, and hotels for themselves and their staff in less than a year,” said Ewasko.
“The NDP need to do the right thing and disclose all their costs today … Manitobans deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent, and the premier should release his travel expenses immediately.”
A Tory spokesman said all of the PC’s travel expenses for the second and third quarter were submitted before the Kinew government was sworn in.
The spokesman said Ewasko has only travelled out of the province once, to the Midwestern legislators conference, which many MLAs of all parties attended in the summer. He said those expenses are being processed.
Greg Haubrich, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the government has to be more transparent about travel expenses.
“This is a very big lack of transparency,” said Haubrich. “They should get them out.
“At the end of the day, taxpayers are paying for the premier’s out-of-province travel expenses and taxpayers should know where the money is spent.”
According to the online records, the travel expenses for both the premier and government ministers were last published for the Jan. 1 to March 31, 2023 time period.
The only trip by the premier, reported during that quarter, was Heather Stefanson’s visit to a First Ministers’ meeting in Ottawa, from Feb. 6 to 8, with $1,603.74 submitted for airfare and $1,007.18 for accommodation, meals and phone calls, for a total of $2,610.92.
Prior to that, Stefanson met with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in Regina from Nov. 18 to 20, 2022, for a total of $1,706.58 for accommodation, meals and phone calls. No airfare claim was submitted for the trip.
Information about travel by all of the government’s ministers during the terms of Stefanson, interim premier Kelvin Goertzen, and premier Brian Pallister is more elusive.
According to the records, the last time any minister in the Stefanson government left the borders of Manitoba was for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference in Regina on June 2 to 6, 2022.
That minister (the website doesn’t identify which minister it was) spent nothing on airfare, but $511.20 for “other transportation,” $1,101.95 for accommodation, meals and phone calls, and another $1,115.10 under the heading “other,” for a total of $2,728.25.
Before that, a Manitoba minister attended a meeting of the provincial and territorial ministers in Dartmouth, N.S. from June 10 to 13, 2019. The minister expensed $861.10 for airfare, $129.29 for transportation, $1,315.85 for accommodation, meals and phone calls, and $115 for other, for a total of $2,421.24.
Sala did not say if the government is looking to compile expense reports further back than the Jan. 1 to March 31, 2023 period.
“We’re compiling these expenses for our cabinet and, as I said as well, unfortunately, the expenses of the Stefanson cabinet because they didn’t do the work.”
A government spokesman said while the expense reports are legally required, there are no penalties in the legislation.
During question period Monday, the lone Liberal MLA, Cindy Lamoureux, asked Housing Minister Bernadette Smith to disclose how much it cost to have her and a 26-member delegation go to Houston, Texas, to learn about addressing housing and homelessness.
Smith didn’t reveal any costs instead saying: “we learned a lot” and “I look forward to releasing our plan going forward.”
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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