XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   "One of the most important things about my approach to politics is about   
   creating a level of honesty, openness and transparency."   
   _________________________   
      
   If you guessed Harper and his lying, cheating, covert government, you'd   
   be right.   
   But the above is now being used by Justin Trudeau.  Can't this guy get   
   any of his own material?  When he's not 'borrowing' from the NDP's Jack   
   Layton, he's borrowing from the distrusted Harper government.  Not good,   
   Justin . . . . someday you'll need to get some original stuff.   
   Especially if you think you're ready to lead this country.   
   _________________________   
   CBC News Posted: Jan 16, 2014   
      
   Justin Trudeau repays expenses claimed for private trips   
   Liberal leader says inappropriate expenses were due to 'human error' and   
   he has repaid them   
      
      
   Justin Trudeau said Thursday he "inadvertently" used one of his   
   parliamentary travel points to pay for a trip to a paid speaking   
   engagement in 2012, and later found and repaid two other claims for per   
   diems on days he was on private business.   
      
   Trudeau said his agent at the time, Speaker's Spotlight, paid for his   
   travel to Kingston in April, 2012,  but that an invoice was   
   inadvertently sent to his MP's office and he was reimbursed for the   
   amount, due to a "human error" by his staff.   
      
   All MPs are allowed 64 travel points per year, with one point worth a   
   return trip.   
      
   "Shortly after being advised of this error, I wrote a personal cheque   
   for the improper claim of $672 and asked that it be delivered to the   
   Receiver General for Canada immediately," Trudeau wrote in a statement   
   from Thornhill, Ont., where he was speaking with the media Thursday   
   afternoon.   
      
   Trudeau added that this event led his office to conduct a review of his   
   expenses and two more improperly billed invoices  were discovered.   
      
   "One is from Nov. 6, 2009, for $83.55, and the other is from May 7,   
   2010, for $84.50. While I was travelling on those days, the main   
   activities that I undertook were related to contracts with Speaker’s   
   Spotlight and my return home to Montreal. As such, I have reimbursed the   
   Receiver General $168.05," Trudeau wrote. The two amounts were for per   
   diems — meals and incidentals — that Trudeau had charged.   
   Party Fundraising   
      
   Speaking to reporters in Thornhill, where he was appearing at an event   
   with the provincial Liberal byelection candidate for the area, Sandra   
   Yeung Racco, Trudeau described the per diems as "perhaps not properly   
   claimed."   
      
   He added, "One of the most important things about my approach to   
   politics is about creating a level of honesty, openness and   
   transparency. That means admitting when mistakes were made and taking   
   responsibility for them and fixing them in a manner that will hopefully   
   will continue to restore people's trust in our political system."   
      
   NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, speaking to reporters outside the NDP caucus   
   room in the House of Commons, pointed out that in June Trudeau had   
   denied spending parliamentary resources while conducting his speaking   
   engagements.   
      
   "Frankly, I think he's stolen a page from Stephen Harper's playbook —   
   deny, deny, deny — until you get caught and then you apologize,"   
   Mulcair said.   
      
   In his statement, Trudeau said that if the system of proactive   
   disclosure his MPs are now using to publicize their expenses was in   
   force earlier, the "errors" could have been caught sooner.   
      
   Trudeau ordered his caucus members, including senators, to post their   
   travel costs for each trip, and any hospitality expenses, starting last   
   fall. So far, expenses have been posted for only the fiscal quarter   
   ending in September 2013.   
      
   Conservative MPs adopted a similar system in December, although their   
   postings are more up to date. NDP MPs are not posting their individual   
   travel and hospitality claims.   
      
   Last year, after a Saint John-based charity revealed it lost money on an   
   event after paying a $20,000 speaking fee to Trudeau, he offered to pay   
   not only the charity's money back, but any organization he'd billed for   
   speaking appearances since he was first elected.   
      
   After the Grace Foundation in Saint John went public about the fact it   
   had paid Trudeau to speak at an event, the House of Commons passed a   
   motion in October that, among other things, asked administrative staff   
   in the House to investigate the use of members' travel points for paid   
   speaking engagements.   
      
   In his statement, Trudeau said it was that investigation that led to a   
   letter to his office from the Clerk of the House of Commons, Audrey   
   O'Brien, alerting him about the inappropriate claim for his Kingston speech.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)