NDP questions climate adviser’s $60,000 flight expenses
Pallister's advisor expensed $60K on flights, documents reveal
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2017 (2911 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
New Democrats are demanding to know how Premier Brian Pallister can claim to have a made-in-Manitoba green plan coming when his climate change adviser David McLaughlin has spent nearly $60,000 flying back and forth to his Ottawa home.
The NDP used freedom of information legislation to learn that McLaughlin claimed close to $60,000 in expenses from Jan. 27 to Aug. 4, mainly for hotels in Winnipeg and about two dozen flights between Ottawa and Winnipeg. He had one trip to Washington and several trips to Canadian cities.
During the same period, McLaughlin acted as temporary director of communications and stakeholder relations in Pallister’s office.
Most of his weekly expenses listed “climate change project/meetings” and occasionally paired that with “communications and stakeholder relations.”
At a committee hearing Thursday, NDP Leader Wab Kinew grilled the premier about his aide’s travel, asking if there was a cap on McLaughlin’s expenses.
He did not receive a direct reply.
“I’m sure the premier would know, though he didn’t answer today,” Kinew said later. “I would have liked to have heard full answers on the nature of the (employment) agreement (with McLaughlin) and whether there is a cap on expenses.”
A cabinet order earlier this year showed that McLaughlin is being paid an annual salary of $133,375. The order did not specify what expenses he was allowed to claim.
Pallister told a committee hearing Thursday he expected McLaughlin’s work in Manitoba would be done in another three or four months. The premier announced earlier this week that he would announce his carbon-pricing plan in the next few weeks.
“David McLaughlin is a respected international expert on climate change, on sustainable development. He has consented to work with our government to help us design our own made-in-Manitoba climate change plan. This is tremendously important work and we are really proud to have him here helping us,” Pallister said after the meeting.
“His family lives in Ottawa so his travel expenses, as part of the agreement, were paid to help him maintain touch with his two children and his wife,” the premier added.
A former chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney, McLaughlin was Pallister’s campaign manager during the 2016 provincial election.
— Nick Martin and Larry Kusch