The cost of MP Hiebert
Teachers are losing their jobs all over B.C., the world is in a global recession, our health care system is begging for more money to keep up with demand and still, Hiebert, Conservative MP for South Surrey – White Rock – Cloverdale, was able to rack up an expense account of $637,093.
By Matt Law [Health Bureau Chief]
Russ Hiebert must have skipped fiscal responsibility class at MP school.
Teachers are losing their jobs all over B.C., the world is in a global recession, our health care system is begging for more money to keep up with demand and still, Hiebert, Conservative MP for South Surrey – White Rock – Cloverdale, was able to rack up an expense account of $637,093.
And let’s not forget that the house was closed over the Olympics during the great prorogation of 2010. Russ wasn’t even in Ottawa.
Poor ol’ Russ has taken the brunt of the public backlash, and rightly so. His expenses were second only to Steven Fletcher who is also a conservative MP. The difference is that Fletcher is a quadriplegic and has added costs for understandable reasons.
Hiebert has been quite adamant that he has done nothing illegal and he was well within his rights.
He flew his family across the county in business class, printed mail-outs to his constituents at a cost of over $80,000 and was absolutely unapologetic for wasting taxpayers’ money.
The sheer arrogance that politicians show toward their god given rights as elected officials has become appalling. Not only is he wasting over $80,000 printing these things but he has also shown a complete lack of environmental responsibility.
But I guess I should thank him for keeping my family employed in the logging industry, oh that’s right, there’s another industry suffering while good ol’ Russ is livin’ the good life.
Hiebert was quoted in one newspaper article as saying, “this is the price of democracy.”
Bullshit Russ.
People in this country, especially politicians, have forgotten what democracy is about. MPs are elected by us, to represent us and to look out for our concerns.
But the public doesn’t care anymore. We pass this sort of arrogance off as the day to day functioning of our country. We don’t like it, but we don’t do anything about it.
Yes, dear ol’ Russ has to fly farther than some other MPs. Yes, he is being a responsible father and husband by flying his family with him in business class. But, when people are losing their jobs and the world is in an economic downturn, don’t you think it would be ok to fly your family on your own dime?
It is time for Canadians to stop shrugging and claiming they can’t do anything about it. This is a democracy so let’s vote these jokers out.
