Canadian MPs accepted $620K worth of free travel from third parties, foreign entities in 2017

MPs of all political stripes accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free travel last year, and many of those trips werebankrolled by entities with ties to foreign governments.

House of Commons Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion released his annual report Tuesday. It documentssponsored travelundertaken by 73 MPs more than a fifth of all membersto foreign locales and a handful ofCanadian destinations, paid for either wholly or in part by third-party groups.

The MPs expensed$618,051intransportation, accommodation and "other" fees to these entities.The trips are legal, as long asthe dozens of MPswhoaccept this sort of generosityreport their trips to the ethics commissioner annually.

Last year saw a high-water mark for sponsored travel nearly$100,000 morethan each of the annual sums for 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015and 2016.

Duff Conacher, co-founder of the government ethics watchdog group Democracy Watch, said it's "ludicrous" that MPs are permitted to accept these lavish gifts from third parties some of them registered to lobby the federal government.

Other groups like theChinese International Economic Cooperation Association, which represents Taiwanese business interests should be registered under the Lobbying Act given how often they sponsor free trips for MPs, he said.

'Leaving the loophole open means allMPsare fine with being an unethical hypocrite.'- DuffConacher

In May 2016, his group filed a complaint with the former lobbying commissioner, Karen Shepard, asking her to investigate the free travel and rule on whether it can reasonably be seen as a "gift" under the conflict of interest code.

Conachersaid he never heard back. He calledthe office's enforcement record "negligently weak."

"We need to closethis huge loophole in the MPs ethics rules that allows lobbyists to just buy influence by sending MPs, and anyone they want with them, to junkets around the world whenever they want," he said in an interview with CBC News.

"Why don't the other 260 MPs, who don't take these trips, stand up and say, 'You're embarrassing all of us, year after year, and we're going to stop it'? Leaving the loophole open means all MPs are fine with being an unethical hypocrite."

While Section 14 of the codeprohibits an MP from accepting any gift"that might reasonably be seen to have been given to influence the member in the exercise of a duty or function of his or her office," Section 15 makes an explicit exemption for sponsored travel.

TheCentre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA),which is registered to lobby public office holders, paid for 14MPsto travel to Israel in 2017. The group did not return a requestfor comment Tuesday. On its website, CIJA said its "missions" come with "no strings attached" for participants.

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Liberal MP AliEhsassi, who represents the Toronto-area riding ofWillowdale, accepted the most sponsored travel in 2017 with trips to Ethiopia, the Netherlands, Taiwan andItaly at a total cost of $30,000 billed to theCanadian Lutheran World Relief,The Stanley Foundation,Chinese International Economic Cooperation Associationand theMontreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, respectively.

In an interview with CBC News, Ehsassi saidtrips to the Netherlands and Italy were made in his capacity as the chair of the All-Party ParliamentaryGroupfor the Prevention of Genocide. He said he'd welcome a study of the notion of providing parliamentary groups with more funds to travel abroad, in place of relying on outside entities to foot the bill.

"It would be high time to examine this issue, and the fundingthat is provided."

Taiwan top travel destination

Eighteen of the sponsored trips MPstook last year were to Taiwan the top destination for such trips. They werepaid for by the Taipei Economic and CulturalOffice in Canada (which works out of Taiwan's official office in Ottawa), theChinese International Economic Cooperation Association (a Taiwanese business organization)or by the Taiwanese "embassy"itself.

Taiwan has long used the prospect of a free trip to attract the attention ofMPsand promote direct ties between Canadian political leaders and Taiwan, which seeks allies in the international community as it squabbles with the much larger People's Republic of China over questions of sovereignty.

Canada's long-standing "One China"policy means it does not have official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but there are strong trade ties and the country has offices in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto.

The trips to Taiwan, which styles itself as the Republic of China, were some of the most costly on the sponsored travel list, while the purposesgiven for these tripswere vague.

According to Dion's report, Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative finance critic, accepted over $21,600 worth of free travel for him and his then-girlfriend, nowwife, AnaidaGalindo,to visit the southeast Asian country in January 2017.

A spokesperson for theConservative Party later disputed the figure, saying a staffer made an error when filing reports with the commissioner and claimingPoilievre's air transportation cost was actually $8,000 less than reported.

Poilievresaid he traveled to "further cooperation between Canada and Taiwan."

When asked to further explain his motivations, Poilievre said it's important for legislators to "learn how people and governments do things in other democratic countries so we can take the best ideas home."

Vague explanations for pricey travel

Ehsassiaccepted $15,060 worth of free travelto "exchange views on topics of mutual interest." He told CBC News he has a sizeable Taiwanese community in hisriding and he tries his "utmost to understand their issues, represent and advocate for them as well as I possibly can."

B.C. Liberal MP Jati Sidhusaid he embarked on the 24-hour journey to Taiwanfor "culture immersion and related foreign affairs."

Saskatchewan NDP MP Erin Weir who made the trip with six other MPsfrom April 17-13 said he went to "promote Saskatchewan exports and learn about Taiwan." His fellow SaskatchewanConservative, MPKevin Waugh, said he and his wife Ann made the trip as part of a "parliamentary delegation."

SaskatchewanConservative MP Robert Kitchen said heand his wife Donna went to "meet legislators, vice-president, business leaders." Quebec Liberal MP RmiMass characterized his visit"as a parliamentary exchange to learn more about Taiwan's governance, culture, economy."

Requests for comment from the Taiwanese entities went unanswered.

MPs also took trips financed by the governments of Japan, Hungary,United Arab Emirates and the United States.