No more expensing home internet bills to taxpayers, Tory and Liberal MPs told
No more expensing home internet bills to taxpayers, Tory and Liberal MPs told
OTTAWA -
The federal Liberal government is joining the Opposition Conservatives in no longer allowing its members of Parliament to expense taxpayers for home internet services.
And government House leader Mark Holland's office said Thursday he will propose that the practice be ended for MPs of all parties, after Conservatives signalled their intention to do the same.
A breakdown of recent expenses shows 31 Tory MPs have charged taxpayers for home internet services for either themselves or staff, according to an analysis by The Canadian Press. The information was first reported by the National Post.
The MPs include former interim party leader Candice Bergen and fellow Manitoba MP James Bezan, along with Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner and British Columbia representative Mark Strahl.
Across the aisle, 27 Liberal MPs expensed home internet costs for either their homes or those of their employees, including Justice Minister David Lametti and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.
As for the Bloc Quebecois and NDP, the parties saw 11 and four of their MPs claiming such costs, respectively.
A spokeswoman for the House of Commons said the practice is allowed under existing rules for members of Parliament, who can expense the fees through their office budgets.
As was the case for many Canadians, the COVID-19 pandemic forced MPs and their employees to work from home. But their offices have now been back open for months, and no health restrictions currently require them to work out of a home office.
No rules have been broken, but the Opposition whip's office told MPs that a new policy has been set for caucus, according to a recent email obtained by The Canadian Press.
The email said it has been decided that no caucus member or employee can expense home internet costs, following a discussion with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
The message said if the party expects Canadians to see Conservatives as responsible financial stewards, "we must lead by example." It adds that the party plans to propose that the current House of Commons policy end for MPs of all stripes.
"With Canadians continuing to face a cost-of-living crisis, spurred in part by irresponsible government spending, we do not expect that taxpayers should be left paying the bill for the home internet of members of Parliament," Kerry-Lynne Findlay, the Opposition whip, said in a statement Thursday.
"While these expenses were allowed under the standing policy of the House of Commons, Conservatives will cease any expensing of home internet charges going forward."
By Thursday afternoon, Liberal MPs had also been informed that the rules were also changing for them.
"The chief government whip has told Liberal MPs today that going forward, they should not bill for their own home internet expenses and for their staff," Alex Maheux, a spokesperson for Holland, said in a statement.
The statement from Maheux added that at the next meeting of the Board of Internal Economy, which is the committee that sets rules for MPs, Holland would be proposing a change to end the practice for good.
"Our government has and continues to support Canadians as they face the economic and health challenges that have confronted this country," the statement said.
"That is why, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we brought forward measures to allow Canadians to claim tax deductions for expenses related to working at home, such as the cost of the internet."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 26, 2023.
In the 2023 federal budget, the government is unveiling continued deficit spending targeted at Canadians' pocketbooks, public health care and the clean economy.
U.S President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have announced updates on a number of cross-border issues, after a day of meetings on Parliament Hill.
More than 130,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on Canada to give transgender and non-binary people fleeing harmful laws in their home countries the right to claim asylum, but that's already possible in this country. Advocates say the popularity of the proposal shows politicians that Canadians want the government to affirm its welcoming position.
The Public Order Emergency Commission has concluded that the federal government met the threshold for invoking the Emergencies Act to bring an end to the 'Freedom Convoy' protests and blockades.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
The only thing most Canadians will remember about the budget this time next week is how the booze tax increase was reduced to two per cent from six, writes Don Martin in a column for CTVNews.ca.
Joe Biden comes for a sleepover next week to make Canada the 18th country he has visited since being sworn in as U.S. president, quite the protocol slippage from that fading, if not forgotten, tradition of Canada being the first foreign presidential pitstop, writes Don Martin in a column for CTVNews.ca.
After weeks of refusing to look further into foreign election interference, Justin Trudeau surrendered to intense pressure and appointed a 'special rapporteur' to review China's actions. In his exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin writes this 'startling change of heart' suggests the PMO is in panic mode and reflects badly on the prime minister's decision making.
The Trudeau tipping point is within sight. The moment when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knows he has to quit for the good of the party or the Liberals realize they can't survive re-election with him at the helm is almost upon us, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
Bombshell revelations that suggest Chinese agents actively, fraudulently and successfully manipulated Canada's electoral integrity in the last two federal elections cannot be dismissed with the standard Justin Trudeau nothing-to-see-here shrug, Don Martin writes in his exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
Police say the bodies of eight migrants have been retrieved from the waters off the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, straddling the Canada - U.S. border. The people whose bodies were recovered Thursday and Friday consisted of two families of Romanian and Indian origins who were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally, police said Friday.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday.
A recent report from Royal LePage is predicting a drop in prices for Canadian cabins and cottages this year as demand softens from economic uncertainty and low housing stock.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending the appointment of senior Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law as Canada's interim ethics commissioner.
Gwyneth Paltrow 's motivation to go to trial to fight a lawsuit accusing her of sending a fellow skier “absolutely flying” at a posh Utah ski resort in 2016 was about vindication. She got it when a jury found her not at fault in the collision, granting her exactly the $1 she sought in her countersuit
Vogue Philippines has revealed Apo Whang-Od as the cover star of its April issue, a move that makes the 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines the oldest person ever to appear on the front of Vogue.
The bodies of six people, including one child, were found in the St. Lawrence River Thursday afternoon after an air search involving the Canadian Coast Guard, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police said.
Canada needs standardized data on violence on transit systems to help tackle issues ranging from a lack of mental health supports to eroding public trust, say researchers, citing the recent stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy at a Toronto station as the latest example of random attacks on commuters.
Kevin Garinger says it feels like the passage of time is inexplicable. The five years since a deadly bus crash changed his city, his hockey team and his life sometimes feel like a lifetime. Other times it feels like yesterday.
Thousands of people rallied across the country Friday as part of a Transgender Day of Visibility in support of the rights of transgender people and their resilience amid what many denounced as an increasingly hostile environment.
Thirty-six bodies have been found inside a well at a Hindu temple in central India after dozens of people attending a festival fell into the muddy water when its cover collapsed, officials said Friday.
A special military investigative team is on the scene of a deadly crash involving two Black Hawk helicopters that killed nine people in southwestern Kentucky, but weather conditions have slowed the early work, Army officials said.
Andrew Tate, the divisive internet personality who has spent months in a Romanian jail on suspicion of organized crime and human trafficking, has won an appeal to replace his detention with house arrest, an official said Friday.
A woman pulled alive from the rubble of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory after an explosion that killed seven co-workers says flames had engulfed the building, and her arm, when the floor gave way beneath her. That might have been the end, if she hadn't fallen into a vat of liquid chocolate.
A Philippine coast guard commander said Friday that the tragic scenes of death his team saw aboard a gutted ferry, including bodies of adults clutching children, had moved them to tears and sparked fears other passengers could be found dead in the still-smouldering ship.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending the appointment of senior Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc's sister-in-law as Canada's interim ethics commissioner.
In a choice forced upon them by the Canadian government, four mothers have made the agonizing decision to forfeit an opportunity to repatriate their children from open air prisons in northeast Syria.
Interim RCMP commissioner Michael Duheme says he would support the Criminal Code changes recommended in the Mass Casualty Commission report to implement stricter gun laws.
The federal government now expects far more Canadians with long-overdue dental needs to sign up for its insurance plan, and the health minister says that's why the estimated cost has risen by $7 billion.
The B.C. government's bid to restrict the sale of diabetes drug Ozempic to prevent non-Canadian residents draining supplies was the right move and a long time coming, says Brett Skinner, founder and CEO of the Canadian Health Policy Institute.
Luxury detergent brand The Laundress has announced another recall of its products after discovering a known carcinogen in its line of fabric conditioners.
Italy is temporarily blocking the artificial intelligence software ChatGPT in the wake of a data breach as it investigates a possible violation of stringent European Union data protection rules, the government's privacy watchdog said Friday.
New research suggests the classic image of a Tyrannosaurus rex with massive, sharp teeth might be wrong. A study in the journal Science suggests the teeth on a T. rex was likely covered by scaly lips and didn't stick out when its mouth was closed.
After the first season of “The Last of Us” generated big buzz and an economic boom for Alberta, British Columbia may be next in line to host the production team.
A Florida teenager has documented how it feels to be young and transgender for a film set to debut at a festival as transgender people around the world celebrate visibility and lawmakers across the country look to restrict their rights and care.
Gwyneth Paltrow 's motivation to go to trial to fight a lawsuit accusing her of sending a fellow skier “absolutely flying” at a posh Utah ski resort in 2016 was about vindication. She got it when a jury found her not at fault in the collision, granting her exactly the $1 she sought in her countersuit
Under intense scrutiny from Washington that could lead to a potential ban, the top attorney for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance defended the social media platform's plan to safeguard U.S. user data from China.
A 2018 Twitter post by Tesla CEO Elon Musk unlawfully threatened Tesla employees with the loss of stock options if they decided to be represented by a union, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Vogue Philippines has revealed Apo Whang-Od as the cover star of its April issue, a move that makes the 106-year-old tattoo artist from the Philippines the oldest person ever to appear on the front of Vogue.
With just five weeks before King Charles III's coronation, a British manufacturer of fine bone china is busy making 'God Save The King' commemorative plates and mugs for the historic occasion.
About half of Americans said they experienced stress within the past day, according to a Gallup Poll survey from last October, a finding that was consistent for most of 2022.
Daniil Medvedev hasn't won a title in the United States since capturing the 2021 U.S. Open, when he turned away Novak Djokovic's bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani and former Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis defended Canada Soccer's controversial deal with Canadian Soccer Business on Thursday, telling a parliamentary committee that the contract provided the governing body with more guaranteed revenue that it had received previously.
Formula One officials confirmed on Friday that teams can no longer touch their cars with jacks during penalty pitstops in the wake of the Fernando Alonso controversy at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Holding a sprint race on a street circuit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is a "ludicrous" proposition which will cost Formula One teams when they "trash" their cars, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said.
Formula One officials confirmed on Friday that teams can no longer touch their cars with jacks during penalty pitstops in the wake of the Fernando Alonso controversy at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Red Bull principal Christian Horner has criticized the stricter interpretation of a rule that bans Formula One team employees from climbing pit wall for victory celebrations.
