1. Blackburn’s flights of fancy

Conservatives came to Ottawa promising to be transparent and accountable with our tax dollars. But in 2006 Minister of Labour Jean Pierre Blackburn racked up almost $150,000 in flights on privately hired jets that don’t appear in his pro-active disclosure of travel expenses. For five trips, Blackburn was the only passenger on the flight, using the planes like his personal taxi to ferry him between Ottawa and his home in Alma, Quebec. Incredibly, Blackburn once rented a helicopter to fly him across the Port of Sept Iles — a trip of less than 30 minutes by car.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $150,000

2. Loose Cannon

Conservatives claim that they use the government’s fleet of Challenger aircraft less than the high-flying Liberals did. Now we know why. Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon has made regular use of a secret fleet of government executive jets and not disclosing his trips as requited by cabinet rules. The NDP uncovered his use of the planes, including six trips aboard a sleek Citation C-550 executive jet. The Department of National Defense estimates the use of such planes at $9,000 an hour. If it’s appropriate, why are they hiding it?

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $9,000 an hour

3. Harper’s Clairvoyant Coiffeur

When he was a Reform Party MP, Harper bolted from the party after Preston Manning insisted on a party-paid clothing allowance. So it’s all the more surprising that as Prime Minister, Harper travels with a taxpayer-funded image advisor. The advisor doesn’t just make with the Dippidy-Do for Harper, she also reportedly talks with the angels. Harper has refused to explain how much he spends on the services of his image advisor and sooth-sayer.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: Reply hazy, try again.

4. Oda and the Mysterious Re-appearing Cheques

The Conservatives were elected on a promise to end pork-barrel politics. But in November 2006, Heritage Minister Bev Oda was forced to cancel a $250 a plate political fundraiser after it was learned that it was being organized by Charlotte Bell — the head of regulatory affairs for CanWest media – who was passing the hat among the very same media companies that Oda regulates as minister. The back-pedaling Conservatives hastly announced that the cheques from donors would be returned. But only months ago, Oda’s riding association declared them in their official fundraising report to Elections Canada for 2006.

5. Un-Conventional Fundraising

The Conservatives failed to report over $530,000 in donations to their party from their 2005 Convention, including a donation by Stephen Harper that was above the legal donation limit – in violation of the Elections Act. Only when the scandal was made public did the Conservatives admit wrong-doing and quietly repaid the funds. When the Conservatives tried to change the law to make what they had done legal, the NDP stopped them.

6. Driving Miss Lazy

Heritage Minister Bev Oda racked-up almost $6,000 in limousine expenses over four days in Halifax in 2006 to attend the Juno Awards. It’s been reported that Oda had arrived a couple of days before the awards ceremony, during which time she had an assortment of limos escorting her around – or on standby. Oda refused a minivan which was rented for her, opting for a limo instead. Embarrassed by even her own excess, Oda was forced to pay some of the cost.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $5,475

7. Verner’s limousine lifestyle

In March 2006, Minister of International Cooperation Josee Verner paid over $4,000 for 124 hours of work by an “occasional chauffeur”. Worse still, her $32 an hour driver wasn’t listed in her proactive travel disclosure and had to be revealed through a formal Access to Information request.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $4,092

8. Khan-ed?

The Conservative government paid to have a Mississauga Liberal MP, Wajid Khan, go on a “fact-finding” trip to the middle east as Stephen Harper’s advisor. Soon after the trip, Khan changed his allegiance to the Conservative Party. Harper refused to release any information about his advisor’s report or the cost of the junket that wooed Khan to cross the floor. The price of trip was disclosed using access to information.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $37,837

9. Finley smokes ‘em ‘cause she got ‘em

In February 2007, the Conservative government unveiled a new tax break – worth about $500,000 – for tobacco processors in Southwestern Ontario. But of the province’s 650 tobacco farmers, only one company is actually eligible for the tax break — Simcoe Leaf Tobacco Co. Ltd. Hardly incidental, Simcoe Leaf operates in one constituency — that of Minister Diane Finley.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $500,000

10. Fortier’s zero degree of separation

Before he entered politics, Michael Fortier — the appointed senator and unelected Minister of Public Works — was an investment banker for Credit Suisse. Among his clients was the Montreal-based CGI Group Inc., for which Fortier helped raise $330 million when it went public in 2004. Last year CGI posed revenues of $3.6 billion. Fast-forward to April 2007 when TPG Technology Consulting Ltd of Ottawa alleged Minister Fortier altered a $400 million contract in favour of CGI, effectively shutting out TPG even though they submitted the cheapest bid.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: up to $400 million

11. Un-democratic Reform

In March 2007, The Conservative government began a public consultation process on “the challenges facing Canada’s electoral system and democratic institutions.” But the Conservatives aren’t interested in hearing from working people on how to improve our democracy. Instead, The Conservatives have contracted-out our democracy to a private think-tank for almost a $1 million contract. The Frontier Centre for Public Policy’s website includes links such stirring defences of the status quo as “Why I’m a Recovering Electoral Reformer,” “The Unintended Consequences of Electoral Reform” and “Canada Should Keep `First Past the Post’ Voting System.”

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $900,000

12. Flaherty’s money pit

A few years ago, land developer Mario Cortellucci unsuccessfully sued the Ontario government for nixing his plan to bury Toronto’s garbage in the abandoned Adams Mine in northern Ontario. Court documents listed Cortellucci as the mine’s owner. But wait! Today, a Pennsylvania investor named Vito Gallo is saying he owns the mine so he can sue for $355 million under a section of NAFTA that allows US investors to sue governments in Canada for loss of investment. Even though Gallo has never been listed publicly as the owner of the mine, the Harper government has allowed the case proceeded to a NAFTA arbitration panel. Why would they do that? It might be because of the $200,000 that Cortellucci and other Adams Mine investors donated to the federal and provincial Conservative parties over the last decade, including over $50,000 to the two provincial leadership bids of Jim Flaherty, Stephen Harper’s Minister of Finance.

Cost to ordinary taxpayers: $355 million