Cariboo-Prince George MP Dick Harris says he continues to maintain a rental home in Prince George although he admits to spending "as much time as I'm able to in the Okanagan" where his wife has owned property for about a decade.
"And that's the time I'm not spending in the riding," Harris said, when reached in Ottawa on Tuesday. "If I do a tour in the riding and I can grab a day or two in the Okanagan [I will].
"I think last year I had 19 days in the Okanagan."
He likened it to having a cottage at Stuart Lake near Fort St. James.
"What's the difference?" Harris said.
According to a report from the House of Commons's board of internal economy, Harris ran up $199,363 on travel in 2010-11, the fourth highest in the House.
Harris has declined to provide an itemized breakdown of the costs and destinations of the trips he took, and board of internal economy communications director Heather Bradley said the House of Commons is exempt from requests under freedom of information legislation.
However, Harris has maintained much of the total is spent in his capacity as the chair of the federal Conservatives' B.C. caucus and after his many years as MP, "I'm sick of flying" and prefers to drive.
Of the 50 or so flights he takes in a year - MPs are entitled to as many as 64 return trips to Ottawa or their riding each year - Harris estimated three or four were into the Okanagan.
"And how will that come about? Well, maybe I'm working my riding on a north-south and I go and finish up in Williams Lake on a Friday or a Thursday afternoon and I grab a couple days in the Okanagan. I'll drive down there and then fly back to Ottawa on Sunday.
"Is that a sin?"
Harris declined to provide the address of his rental home in Prince George.
"You can put 'refused to' because it's really none of anybody's business where I live and for security reasons, I would never give it out anyway," Harris said.
Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Nathan Cullen spent $143,542 on travel in 2010-11, a $46,875 drop from the year before, which he credited to changes in the way his party, the NDP, books plane tickets.
Cullen has declined to provide further details claiming his hands are tied by the House of Commons in terms of taking that step.
As for the expenses related to his leadership bid this year, Cullen said they're completely separated from those he runs up in his duties as an MP.
Tyler Sommers of Democracy Watch, an Ottawa-based advocacy group that calls for more transparency by Canadian politicians, said the reports on MPs expenses does not go far enough and should include detailed receipts.
"It's a huge loophole in government accountability," Sommers said.
