Backbench Conservative MP to cabinet ministers: stop wasting my taxes!

“The Cabinet Minister Limousine Service represents one of the most egregious displays of Ottawa opulence…”

Is that a Pat Martin quote? Surely Charlie Angus?

Nope, it’s Brent Rathgeber, Conservative Member of Parliament writing today on his blog.

Rathgeber was reflecting on his recent visit to small town Saskatchewan and news that Conservative Ministers were racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime expenses for their limos.

“But the $600,000 in limousine driver overtime did not play well with the small prairie town sensibilities. How could the average payout be $20,000 and how could the chart topping Minister’s driver rack up $40,000 in overtime charges???”
– Brent Rathgeber (Of Orange Juice and Limos, June 26, 2012 [multiple question marks in the original])

Whether its $23,000 being spent on limos to drive around the small Swiss resort town Davos, or Peter MacKay using a military helicopter to be airlifted from a friend’s fishing lodge, or a $47,000 F-35 photo-op (yes, the one with the fake F-35 shipped in from Texas) – Conservative Ministers have been showing their real attitude when it comes to taxpayer dollars.

But Backbench Conservative Rathgeber really sums it up best:

“In Grenfell, most of the attendees have never ridden in a limo and none of them have ever drunk $16 orange juice. Surely, they would appreciate if government took more care in spending their money.” (Of Orange Juice and Limos, June 26, 2012)