NDP MP Niki Ashton came under fire for $17,000 in travel expenses billed to Canadian taxpayers, despite primarily working remotely.
According to parliamentary travel records, Ashton was only present in Ottawa for four days during the entire fall sitting in 2022.
When she did fly into Ottawa from Thompson, Man. on Dec. 21 of that year, the House of Commons had already closed its doors for the Christmas holidays.
Despite the closure, Ashton billed the House of Commons anyway, claiming the trip was for meeting “stakeholders.”
She also brought her husband and kids along for the trip.
The family then travelled from Ottawa to Quebec City on Christmas Day, again billing taxpayers for the trip as well as expenses made during their holiday sojourn.
Social media posts made by Ashton’s husband show the family enjoying tourist attractions in Quebec’s capital city, including, skating, and snow tubing as well as attending a Christmas market.
“This looks really bad,” Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano told True North.
“If Ashton doesn’t want Canadians to think she billed taxpayers thousands of dollars so she could take a vacation to Quebec over the holidays, then she better have a very good explanation as to what value, if any, taxpayers actually got from this trip and why she couldn’t have done the meetings over zoom.”
According to Commons records, Ashton’s family vacation cost Canadians $17,641.12 in total, including $13,619.90 for airfare and other transportation, $2,508.39 for accommodations and another $1,512.83 for meals and other expenses.
Ashton did not respond to True North for comment.
A spokesperson for Ahshton’s office told CBC News that she was in Quebec City “to discuss language priorities” because she’s the NDP critic for official languages and the trip was necessary to “find out things she needs to prioritize.”
According to the spokesperson, while in Quebec City, Ashton also “met with a union person” before the family travelled to Montreal on Dec. 30, 2022 for more “meetings with stakeholders.”
Ashton also travelled to Windsor, Ont. with her family in May of last year for a six-day trip. Her husband Bruce Moncur, a former NDP nomination candidate, is originally from the city and attended university there.
Additionally, while on the Windsor trip, Ashton travelled to Detroit to meet Democrat Congresswoman Rashida Talib.
The NDP spokesperson claimed that the Windsor trip was to meet people involved with a “soccer recreation centre,” so that Ashton could learn about “federal funding to create some soccer opportunities in northern Manitoba for Indigenous folks.”
That trip was also paid for by Canadian taxpayers to the tune of $9,748.03.
According to travel records, Ashton spent less than 30 days in Ottawa, including weekends, over the first half of last year, despite the House of Commons sitting for 70 weekdays over that same period.
MPs have been allowed to participate in debate and committee meetings remotely since 2023 after pandemic-era rules were made permanent.
According to the House of Commons travel rules, MPs are permitted a certain number of travel points annually, however, each trip must include “a specific purpose of travel and be for the purpose of the fulfilment of the Member’s parliamentary functions.”
“Activities related to the private interests of a member or a member’s immediate family” are not permitted.
Member travel points are also to be used for travel between Ottawa and the MP’s constituency, or from their constituency to their provincial or territorial capital.
“If she’s Zooming in for her parliamentary duties in the House of Commons, why couldn’t she Zoom in for these meetings instead of billing taxpayers thousands of dollars?” asked Terrazzano.