Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell ran up the largest travel bill among provincial MLAs, according to the provincial government's annual accounts released this week.
Bell spent $69,467 on travel during the 2010-11 fiscal year, ending March 31, all but $1,000 of that in his capacity as a cabinet minister.
"I think it is to be expected given that I have responsibility for wood sales internationally," Bell said Wednesday and added he made two trips to China, each at a cost of $7,000 to $8,000, and one to Washington, D.C. for softwood lumber negotiations between Canada and the United States.
The effort on the China front, at least, has paid off according to Bell.
"Lumber sales, as was noted on the front page of The Citizen on Monday this week, have doubled to China - $122 million in the month of May - so the return on investment probably $600-$700 million worth of lumber sales," said Bell, who was the forests and range minister up until a November 2010 cabinet shuffle that saw him moved to the jobs, tourism and innovation portfolio.
"So I think it's a good investment and I intend to continue to make those trips."
Liberal government colleague Shirley Bond, the MLA for Prince George-Mount Robson, spent $31,386 on travel with $28,829 in her capacity as cabinet minister. She was the transportation and infrastructure minister prior to the shuffle and is now the solicitor general and public safety minister.
"People that know me know that I work seven days a week pretty much and part of my job is traveling across the province to do provincial work," Bond said.
In the 2009-10 public accounts, Bell was listed at $50,187 and Bond at $49,030 in travel expenses, both in their capacities as cabinet ministers. Expenses as MLAs were not included.
This year is the first time figures for MLAs have also been included. Nechako Lakes Liberal MLA John Rustad spent $48,533 and Cariboo North NDP MLA Bob Simpson spent $49,250.
In addition to traveling back and forth to Victoria, Rustad said a good portion of his expenses involve driving and noted he's put more than 210,000 kilometres on his car in six years.
"I have a fair number of meetings in Prince George, which is outside my riding as well as I occasionally go out west which is also outside my riding as well," he said.
Simpson was out of cellphone range Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.
Critics say that although including MLAs is a step in the right direction, the figures lack an itemized breakdown and no receipts or additional public accounting was provided.
Both Bell and Bond declined to provide such details but did note a minister's monthly travel expense summary is available through the provincial government's recently-launched Open Information website (www.openinfo.gov.bc.ca).
So far this fiscal year to the end of June, Bond spent $7,789, most of it on in-province flights in April, and Bell spent $625 in the same month, $288 on in-province travel and $338 on out-of-province travel.
Rustad agreed to provide a breakdown of how much he spent on food, gas and lodging but added it would take some time for his staff to provide the breakdown. He said the total was down slightly from last year.
