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May 21, 2010
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MP rejects more scrutiny of expenses MARIA RANTANEN mrantanen@mrtimes.com
M
embers of Parliament rejected Auditor-General Sheila Fraser’s request to look at their books, and local MP Randy Kamp agreed that there is already enough scrutiny of federal politicians’ books. MPs’ accounts are “looked at very carefully” by House of Commons staff, Kamp said, and he agreed with the Board of Internal Economy, which includes MPs from all political parties, that there wasn’t any need for further scrutiny by the auditor-general. “There is a fair bit of scrutiny
already,” said Kamp, who is the Member of Parliament for Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission. “(MPs are) very careful about staying within the guidelines.” Fraser has argued the current auditing system isn’t good enough. She said her team of auditors would go deeper to ensure taxpayers are getting good value for the more than $500 million in public money spent annually on MPs’ expenditures. The Commons Board of Internal Economy stated they don’t want to open up their books to the auditorgeneral. “Following careful consideration, the auditor-general will not be
invited to conduct a performance audit of the House of Commons,” said a board statement released last week. Kamp’s total expenses for the last fiscal year was $493,178 which included travel, maintaining offices in Maple Ridge and Ottawa, telephone, printing and advertising. (See below for details.) Every year a certain number of MPs are randomly chosen to have their books looked at even more carefully than the standard. Kamp said he’s had his books looked at a few times and “they haven’t found anything of any significance.” With files from Canwest News Service
Randy Kamp’s expenses from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009 Office budget:
◗ Staff and other: $223,585 ◗ Travel: $7,847 ◗ Advertising: $21,051 ◗ Office lease: $23,200 ◗ Total: $275,683
Goods and services provided by House of Commons:
◗ Travel: $133,751 ◗ Telephone: $9,887
◗ Printi n g : $64,813 ◗ Office supplies: $4,081 ◗ Constituency office furniture and equipment i m p r ov e ment fund: $4,555 MP Randy Kamp ◗ Other: $408 ◗ Total: $217,495 ◗ Grand total: $493,178 Numbers supplied by MP Randy Kamp’s office.
It’s Not a Toy play takes responsibility for the environment TROY LANDREVILLE editorial@mrtimes.com It’s Not a Toy will send a message of eco-awareness to Maple Ridge theatregoers on Thursday, May 27. Presented by the Grade 8 Interdisciplinary Arts Academy at Garibaldi Secondary, the series of vignettes focuses on hot environmental topics. “We start off with schools and how kids don’t take a lot of the responsibility, even for their school building,” explained Cyndy Lacroix, drama teacher at Garibaldi Secondary. “From there we have some First Nations issues; some poetry that the kids chose to put in it; use of vehicles and how we travel around the Lower Mainland and what we do about carpooling and lack thereof; and how you can change things, even around your house.” The goal is to educate people of all ages about environmental issues, and, Lacroix noted, “what really small differences they can change in their lives, in order to make a difference for their future.” The play, involving two boys and 24 girls, runs at 7 p.m. in the school theatre. Admission is $5 at the door. “This is about current global issues that are going on in our world,” Lacroix said. “The eradication of animals and the health of the planet, the weather changes, global warming, oil spills, and pollution.” Grade 8 actors at Garibaldi Secondary struck a pose to promote their production of It’s Not A Toy, which runs May 27 at the school.
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