Speaker Linda Reid Bills Taxpayers For husband’s Trip

VICTORIA – Speaker of theLegislature Linda Reid apologizedfor billing taxpayers tosend her husband to SouthAfrica and repaid $5,500 in business-class flights Tuesday.”If this has caused anyone anyconsternation I sincerely apologize,”she told reporters in heroffice at the legislature.Reid said she had repaid$5528.16.The move came within hoursafter Reid admitted to TheVancouver Sun that she billedthe business-class flights, hotelsand other expenses to the publicso that her husband couldaccompany her to a parliamentaryconference in South Africain August and September of2013.She said taxpayers also paid forher husband’s accommodationsand other expenses while inSouth Africa, which she admittedamount to thousands ofdollars.Within two hours afterspeaking to The Sun, Reid calleda snap press conference in heroffice to announce the repayment.She said there are alsoadditional hotel and food costsshe will have to repay once shehas calculated the amount.In addition to raising questionsabout the appropriateness oftaxpayer funds being used totransport a spouse overseas, flyingbusiness class also violatesan order issued by FinanceMinister Mike de Jong to legislatureofficials earlier this year.”I’ve directed the ministersthey’re not to fly business class,”de Jong told the legislature managementcommittee and Reid inJanuary.”It is one of those things whereif we’re trying to demonstratesome leadership on cost-cutting,it really should be, in my view,the absolute exception.”Many airlines call first-classaccommodation business class,and business class is the toppricedseat for flights on AirCanada.Reid could not provide a fullaccounting of her trips Tuesday,and has twice refused to answerwritten requests by The Sunover the last month for additionalinformation about herout-of-province travel.She said she’s currently compilingthe financial figures, andwon’t have them until the end ofthe month.Reid said she’s notaware of any other trips for herhusband that she billed taxpayers,but when asked if she’d doso again in the future she said:”We’ll certainly have the conversationat finance audit [committee]in terms of whether or notwe’ll change the practice.” The questions on Reid’s husband’s travelcosts come just weeks after she wasunder fire for approving tens of thousandsof dollars in expenses at the legislature,including a $48,000 custom computerin the chamber, almost $14,000 innew curtains and $13,449 for a new MLATV lounge with free muffins and snacksdisplayed on a $733 snack rack.Reid defended some expenses as necessaryto improve wheelchair access, butpoliticians who are supposed to overseelegislature spending during a time of fiscalausterity criticized her for not gettingapproval, and ultimately voted to limither powers and force MLA approval ofanything worth more than $5,000.Reid flew to South Africa to attend the59th Commonwealth ParliamentaryConference, which was held Aug. 28 toSept. 6, 2013. Her own Twitter feed outlinesthe South Africa trip. One photo ofReid’s husband, dated Aug. 30, 2013,shows him petting a giraffe, with the caption:”My husband making new friends.”Reid also published photos of someCommonwealth society meetings, includinga photo of other Canadian Speakersgathering with Canada’s HighCommissioner, and the election of acommonwealth chairperson. Reid is notthe only Canadian politician to becomeensnared in expense problems in SouthAfrica.Former Alberta Premier Alison Redfordcame under fire from critics after shespent $45,000 to travel to South Africa toattend former president NelsonMandela’s funeral in Johannesburg in late2013.Redford had also been chastised by thepublic for billing taxpayers more than$200 a night in hotels after routinely flyingher executive assistant from Calgaryto Edmonton to work.Reid was caught up in similar concernsearlier this year, after The Sun revealedshe hired her Richmond East campaignmanager as an assistant in and was billingtaxpayers for hotels, flights and meals forher friend to commute betweenRichmond and Victoria. After it wasrevealed, Reid grounded her manager inRichmond.Redford repaid her expenses but was ultimatelyforced to resign last week.Reid has refused repeated requests tooutline how much her manager billedtaxpayers. However, financial recordsreleased last month show she has spent$130,112 more than her predecessor during2013, mainly due to hiring her campaignmanager and billing $79,000 insecurity upgrades to her constituencyoffice back to her Speaker’s budget.Reid pledged to bring her Speaker’s officein on its $380,000 budget this fiscal year,ending next week, but has not publiclyoutlined how she’ll do so.