What Do You Think?

[Jojoking]

got to love the logic, cut a little bit of money in one location spend a LOT more on another useless area. somehow i suspect the 3 block walk would do all of them some good.

copied from:
http://www.canada.com/news/spend+extend+service+blocks/5016874/story.html


MPs spend $500,000 to extend bus service 3 blocks

By Althia Raj
Postmedia News
June 28, 2011


OTTAWA — MPs on the board that's responsible for House of Commons finances approved the spending of more than half a million dollars to extend the Parliament Hill bus service by approximately three blocks last year.

The information is contained in a series of minutes from the Board of Internal Economy, the governing body of the House, that were released to the media this week.

Among the disclosures: the board approved funding worth $522,557 for the extension of the shuttle-bus service to MPs' office buildings and committee rooms that are slightly farther away.

The board also approved a slight budget increase (0.30 per cent) for the House of Commons, for a total of $441,648,089 in 2011-12.

Among the other disclosures, taxpayers continued to pay for legal fees and lawsuits involving MPs.

The board approved payment of fees for legal matters in at least two cases: one involved paying an MP's legal fees in a defamation suit as long as the judge didn't find against the member, while the other case involved paying all claims in a settlement against an MP in an employment matter.

On Jan. 31, the board also approved the payment of costs related to the "installation of additional security equipment to address an urgent situation."

It also appears some MPs needed a few clarifications on the rules last year. One MP sent a complaint to the board, which was addressed by sending a letter to that MP "explaining the rules regarding the use of House resources."

Another incident seems to have spurred a memorandum to all MPs reconfirming what the policy is regarding constituency outreach.

And one MP was told to "reimburse the cost incurred to mail out letters judged by the board not to be within the scope of his parliamentary functions."

The board also decided in February that MPs could not rent artwork (which ministers can do from the Art Bank), but that they could purchase "decorative items" that are less than $100 per item.

The Canada Council uses the Art Bank to rent art for public and private-sector offices. With more than 18,000 works in its collection, the Art Bank says it has the largest collection of contemporary Canadian art in the world.