Sponsored Travel Report

Originally published on the DaninOttawa.com site on March 29th, 2012.



Members of Parliament are invited from time to time to travel to other destinations both within and outside of Canada for a variety of different reasons. These invitations often include airfare and accommodations being paid for by the Host provider. When Members of Parliament accept these invitations they are required to disclose and report such trips to The Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner. Each year the Commissioner releases an annual report that informs Canadians of the trips that Members of Parliament have accepted in what is known as the Sponsored Travel Reports. The report for this year can be found on this webpage located here…

http://ciec-ccie.gc.ca/Default.aspx?pid=134&lang=en

For those of you looking for a more timely summary of my sponsored travel reports I can confirm that I did not accept any complimentary trips or travel since being elected. As I have never taken one of these trips I cannot speak to the value of them and how it relates to the work that is done as a Member of Parliament. I can say that generally my approach to these trips is very similar to what meetings I accept while in Ottawa. If there is an identifiable benefit to the riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla or to the duties of being a member on a Select Standing Committee of Parliament it is something I would lend consideration to. If there is no identifiable benefit then generally I will instead focus on the many other activities that can be of benefit to our region and our National interest.

I also welcome your views on this topic.

Sincerely,

Dan