Of the 11 Members of Parliament with ridings including areas in the Fraser Valley from Delta to Hope, Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon’s Jati Sidhu had the third highest expenses in the last fiscal year.
He spent $485,684.
Only John Aldag in Cloverdale-Langley City and Mark Strahl in Chilliwack-Hope spent more at $495,833 and $488,219 respectively. Aldag led the way for Liberal MPs who were six of the top seven highest spenders in the area. Strahl was the top Conservative spender in the region.
Eighth was Langley-Aldergrove Conservative Mark Warawa at $448,870 followed by fellow Tory Dianne Watts in South Surrey-White Rock, who spent $448,032.
Tenth on the list was Liberal Dan Ruimy in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge, while the award for the thriftiest MP in the region goes to Conservative Abbotsford MP Ed Fast at $420,369.
Federal politicians spent more than $141 million in the last fiscal year and the detailed numbers for each Member of Parliament (MP) break down in very different ways, according to the Members’ Expenditures Report recently posted on the House of Commons website.
The average of all 338 MPs was $417,160. The average Tory spent $435,229 with the average Liberal across Canada – bucking the B.C. trend – spending just $405,152.
The top spending MP in Ottawa was Alberta Conservative MP David Yurdiga ($567,464) followed by Manitoba NDP MP Niki Ashton ($551,275). Third was Labrador Liberal MP Yvonne Jones ($549,984).
Sidhu told The News his expenses were $68,524 higher than the national average due, in part, to his large riding. Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon stretches from northern Abbotsford, through Mission, north past Carpenter Lake and including Agassiz, Ashcroft, Cache Creek and many other smaller communities along Highway 1.
Employee salaries were the costliest line item for all 11 valley MPs, including Sidhu, who came a close second to Strahl in the region, spending $274,868 on his staff to the Chilliwack MP’s $275,881.
Sidhu employs a total of eight people: two full-time in Ottawa, two full-time and three part-time at his Mission constituency office, and a part-time staffer based in Lillooet as a contact person for constituents in that community, Ashcroft, Cache Creek and elsewhere in the northern reaches of his riding.
Sidhu told The News his staff work hard to help constituents with issues relating to the federal government and have had a lot of positive feedback from them.
Of the 11 MPs analyzed in the Fraser Valley, Sidhu spent the most on his secondary residence in Ottawa – $28,340. This took up almost all of the $30,000 combined allowance for the MP’s residence and food costs, which he said left him eating fast food, rather than more expensive food.
Sidhu said he chose to rent a furnished low-rise apartment in the Ottawa suburbs to avoid noise.
–With files from Paul J. Henderson