Oda's staff silent on travel expense changes

[InTouch]

Expenses 're-examined' but no details given

(By Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News Posted: May 31, 2012 5:16 AM ET Last Updated: May 31, 2012 5:13 AM ET)

International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda's office is refusing to say whether she has paid taxpayers back for any inappropriate travel costs in addition to the lavish hotel and chauffeured car she expensed for a trip to London last summer.

Oda's office also won't say why travel expenses for trips to Haiti, Korea and East Africa over the last year have been amended on her department's proactive disclosure website.

Oda, who is the MP for the Ontario riding of Durham, is in charge of the Canadian International Development Agency.

There could be acceptable reasons why the airfare, meal and other expenses were changed from the original amounts, but Oda's office won't provide any details.

Stephanie Rea, Oda's director of communications, acknowledges that past expense claims were recently reviewed and amended, "in the interest of accountability," but won't explain why or what exactly was changed.

The refusal to provide information comes in the wake of last month's controversy when details emerged about Oda charging taxpayers with a stay at the swanky Savoy hotel in London last June. The room cost more than $600 per night.

Oda was originally supposed to stay at the hotel that was hosting the conference she was attending, but upon arrival in London she booked a room at the Savoy instead. Oda also billed taxpayers about $1,000 per day for a car and driver to transport her to the conference, a short cab ride away from the Savoy.

When the Canadian Press broke the story, Oda said she had nothing to be embarrassed about — but wouldn't explain why she switched hotels. Her office said all Treasury Board guidelines were followed.
Oda paid back $2,671.45 for car and driver

The minister then backtracked on April 24 and offered an apology in the House of Commons. She said the expenses were "unacceptable" and should never have been charged to taxpayers. She personally paid back $1,353.81 to cover the tab for the difference in cost between the two hotels, a cancellation fee, and a $16 orange juice from the Savoy.

But opposition MPs demanded she also cover the costs of the car and driver, since they were directly related to the change in hotels. Oda's office said she would pay back the added transportation cost, but didn't provide an amount.

CBC News has confirmed that amount was $2,671.45, bringing the total amount of Oda's reimbursement to $4,025.26.

When asked if Oda has repaid taxpayers for any other trips that she originally filed expense claims for, Rea responded that all of her expenses are disclosed through proactive disclosure and that no further information could be provided.
International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda took a trip to Haiti in January. The proactive disclosure page of her department's website shows expenses for the trip were changed from the original amounts but her office won't say why or how.International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda took a trip to Haiti in January. The proactive disclosure page of her department's website shows expenses for the trip were changed from the original amounts but her office won't say why or how. (Canadian International Development Agency)

Proactive disclosure is a policy that, according to Treasury Board, is meant to enhance transparency and oversight of public resources. One of its measures is the mandatory publication on departmental web sites of travel and hospitality expenses.

The limited information that is posted online does not indicate whether Oda personally paid for any portions of any of her trips.

Rea was asked repeatedly over the course of several weeks whether Oda has repaid taxpayers for any expenses that she originally claimed, in addition to the London trip, and to explain why entries on the proactive disclosure pages for several of Oda's other trips have been amended.
Expenses "re-examined"

She refused to answer the questions. "At this time, all I can say is that all expenses were re-examined, all in the interest of accountability," she wrote in an email.

"I apologize, but I'm sticking with my answer," Rea said in a follow-up phone conversation.

The proactive disclosure section of Oda's department website shows expenses for the following trips have been amended:

- Meal expenses for Oda, Rea, and one of Oda's policy advisors, Alayna Johnson, were amended for a trip to Haiti in January. The total cost of the trip for all three people was $10,034.34.
- "Other expenses" filed for Oda's trip to Korea in late November and early December were amended. Johnson's expenses for transportation, accommodation, meals and "other expenses" were also amended. The total cost of the trip for Oda and Johnson was $15,166.32
- Oda, her executive assistant Clarissa Lamb and Johnson travelled to Kenya and Sudan last July and their airfare expenses have been amended. They each spent around $9,000 according to the most recent posting. Total expenses for the trip were $32,799.21. That includes $523 in airfare that Johnson spent for an "urgent return" from Calgary so that she could go with Oda to East Africa.

The London trip was not the first time Oda paid taxpayers back. In 2006, she used limousines to ferry her to and from the Juno Awards ceremony in Halifax, racking up $5,475 in bills. When the expenses were criticized in the House of Commons, she said she had reimbursed the taxpayer $2,200 of the bill.

A year later, Oda billed taxpayers more than $1,200 for another limousine ride that took her to both a government event and a party.

[backhoe]

As my Dad told me, circa 1958?

"It's So Easy to spend somebody else's money..."

[styky]

Sorry this was news last month now who ever is still flogging this is to lazy to go out and dig up some piece of news that's important. This is prime "mountain out of a mole hill"

[InTouch]

Sorry this was news last month now who ever is still flogging this is to lazy to go out and dig up some piece of news that's important. This is prime "mountain out of a mole hill"

Yesterday the figures on her web page were all changed for the last year or so and her office refuses to state why the changing of the numbers.

Today this:

Oda's travel expenses cause dissent in Tory caucus

By Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News Posted: Jun 1, 2012 5:36 PM ET

Opposition MPs aren't the only ones making Bev Oda's spending habits a thorn in the government's side – her own colleague, Conservative MP John Williamson, is also raising them as a point of contention within their caucus.

Williamson used to head the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and was also Prime Minister Stephen Harper's director of communications before he stepped down to run for his New Brunswick seat.

He confirmed to CBC News that he brought up the minister of international co-operation's travel and hospitality expenses behind closed doors at a weekly Conservative caucus meeting. Williamson would not elaborate on what he said, citing caucus confidentiality.

A spokesman from his office, however, said that what Williamson told the caucus could be taken in the context of his previous job with the CTF – an organization that advocates on behalf of taxpayers.

The CTF, according to its website, dedicates itself to lower taxes, less waste and accountable government. It created the annual "Teddy Waste Awards" to highlight government waste, named after a public servant who was fired over his expenses.

Conservative MP John Williamson has raised the issue of Bev Oda's spending practices within the Tory caucus.Conservative MP John Williamson has raised the issue of Bev Oda's spending practices within the Tory caucus. (House of Commons)

The displeasure with Oda from within her own ranks adds to the opposition's demands for her to be more accountable.

There was a call for her to be fired on Friday, from Liberal MP Mark Eyking, who called Oda an "embarrassment to Canada."

"Yesterday we learned that she changed her public travel expense claims with no explanation. Is the minister ready to admit that there are more $16 glasses of orange juice that she has charged to taxpayers? When will she be accountable for her bad behaviour?" he said during question period.

"Our government is committed to keeping expenses of ministers travelling at a reasonable cost to taxpayers," House leader Peter Van Loan responded. "That is why they are much lower than [what] the honourable member's party spent on ministerial travel when it was in government. In the case of the minister in question, all inappropriate costs have been repaid."

Eyking said Oda can't be trusted to manage her own travel expenses, let alone Canada's foreign aid and development budget.

"I don't know what's wrong with the prime minister, why doesn't he just can her? Fire her. What is he waiting for? The middle of the summer when no one's watching on the Hill to do a cabinet shuffle?" he said after question period.
Opposition wants Oda to testify at committee

Eyking said Oda should explain in front of a parliamentary committee why her travel expenses have so often been amended, according to the proactive disclosure section of her department's website. Ministers are required every quarter to post summaries of their travel and hospitality expenses and those of their staff.

The NDP also wants to see Oda before a committee. It plans to request the appearance of Oda and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird at Monday's foreign affairs committee meeting to talk about their departments' estimated spending. The NDP says Oda would get questions about her personal spending habits "for sure."

The CBC reported Thursday that Oda's office is refusing to answer whether she has paid taxpayers back for any other inappropriate travel expenses in addition to the ones from April. A Canadian Press story revealed that when she was in London last June she stayed at the swanky Savoy hotel – costing more than $600 per night – instead of the less expensive hotel she was booked at, and Oda hired a car and driver costing about $1,000 per day. An orange juice that cost $16 was also among the charges.

She ended up reimbursing the government $4,025.26 after the story broke and apologized for charging the "inappropriate" costs to taxpayers.

The entry for her London trip has since been amended on the proactive disclosure page on the website, but that's not the only change.

Expenses for trips to Haiti, East Africa and Korea over the last year have also been changed at some point after they were originally posted online. An asterisk beside the amount indicates it was modified.

It isn't clear from the website when, how, or why each amount was changed, and Oda's office won't provide explanations. All Oda's spokeswoman would tell CBC News is that they were reviewed "in the interest of accountability." Some entries, for Oda and some of her staff, were modified months ago.

It's not just expenses for trips in 2011 and early 2012 that were amended, some in 2009 and 2010 were also adjusted after they were originally filed.

For example: the airfare, transportation, accommodation and meal expenses for a 2009 visit to Mozambique and South Africa – total cost $13,255.11 – were also amended after they were first posted online.

There could be accounting errors or other reasons why proactive disclosure entries are later changed, but Oda didn't explain when asked in question period Thursday and her office didn't answer repeated requests to provide the information.

The responses from Oda and Van Loan on Thursday and on Friday don't make it clear whether she has paid back inappropriate expenses for only the London trip or other trips. Both of their offices were asked for clarification and they did not provide any.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/06/01/pol-oda-expenses-friday.html

[styky]

Oda repays taxpayers for five years worth of expenses

By Jessica Murphy ,Parliamentary Bureau

First posted: Friday, June 01, 2012 02:56 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, June 01, 2012 03:14 PM EDT
OTTAWA — The cabinet minister responsible for aiding the world's poorest is keeping her lips zipped about the tab she recently settled with taxpayers after staff combed through five years of past travel and hospitality expenses.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda can't shake her high-flying reputation despite retroactively reimbursing inappropriate expenses dating back to 2007.

"Ms. Oda has been spending money that she's not supposed to spend. She's been living high — she's been living like a rock star when she travels to these poor countries," Liberal MP Mark Eyking said Friday after the rear guard action on her expenses came to light.

"In the case of the minister in question, all inappropriate costs have been repaid," House leader Peter Van Loan responded.

Online expense disclosures show she's shelled out cash to reimburse expenses on trips to Bolivia, South Africa, Afghanistan, Mali, Pakistan, Haiti, East Africa, the U.S. and Europe.

Oda also repaid the treasury for costs related to working lunches at Ottawa hot spot Hy's — billed as the country's premier steakhouse — and the Parliamentary Restaurant perched on the sixth floor of Centre Block.

Transportation costs from a state dinner with the Prince of Wales were also amended.

The public online disclosures reveal the total cost of airfare, transportation, accommodations, meals and miscellaneous expenses and identify which of those costs were adjusted, but not how much money Oda paid back.

Oda has a track record of getting into hot water because of her upscale tastes.

In April, Oda was forced to cut a cheque to calm an uproar over a $16 orange juice, a luxury hotel stay and $1,000 per day limo rides she took during a global conference on immunizations in London last year.

And in 2006, she repaid $5,500 worth of limousine rides racked up in Halifax while attending the Juno Awards..........................
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/06/01/od ... f-expenses
— with files from Mark Dunn

[ShadowCat]

This is the kind of crapola that really ticks me off about politicians-
In this case they make these changes and then stonewall us with bullsh1t-
At election time they then come to us hat in hand asking us to trust them
and vote for them - They are all rat bastard lying maskless bandits-
I am truly disappointed with Harper over this Oda case in particular and
his recent actions in general - This once great country is going right down the hopper-
A buddy of mine used to say about politicians 'I wouldn't trust any one them in a sh1thouse
with a knife and fork!' - I am starting to agree with him-