Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Premier tabled two revisions to the Ministerial Administrative Procedures Manual. One dealt with telephone procedures and those additions are ones that will be most welcome. The other was a revised travel policy for Ministers that will come into effect on April 1st of this year.
Mr. Speaker, the existing policy is called the home travel policy and it allows Ministers to travel to their constituency and back 32 times per year. The new policy is called non-portfolio ministerial travel and opens the door much more widely to travel. Mr. Speaker, the new policy adds eight return trips per year and no longer limits the travel to a Minister's home constituency. Forty trips per year, and that is on top of any travel paid for by their constituency budgets and on top of any travel they do for their ministerial responsibilities.
Mr. Speaker, what really concerns me is the conditions that apply to the eight additional trips, or perhaps I should characterize it as lack of conditions. These trips do not have to relate to the Minister's portfolio. They can be for any reason. The new policy tells us why, right in the first sentence, "Ministers are on duty all the time."
Mr. Speaker, any travel is therefore parliamentary or government-related because they are always on duty. Mr. Speaker, these eight new trips are clearly not just for home travel. The conditions make that fairly evident. Half may be used for a spouse or children and they do not have to include the Minister's constituency as a stop.
On top of that, Mr. Speaker, two trips can be made anywhere in Canada, or one trip with their spouse. Under this new policy, remember, no reason need be given, for a Minister is always on duty. Meanwhile, Regular Members, Mr. Speaker, many of whom are here in Yellowknife for 150 days per year and, by the way, that may be nearly as many days as some Members of Cabinet, have a very different set of rules under which to work. Between sessional and committee travel, Regular Members do not get nearly 40 trips per year, and those trips can only be between their home constituency and the place of the meeting.
Mr. Speaker, from this I draw the conclusion that even though we have a consensus system that treats all Members much more equally than most Assemblies in Canada, we clearly have some in this House who are more equal than others. Mr. Speaker, I also think the public will be concerned by the lack of conditions...