Travel Expense report for David Loukidelis, Deputy Attorney General, Ministry of Justice

In the latest edition of Travel Expenses for the Ministers and Deputy Ministers there's a rider been placed on how the data has been collected. Just because the government produces the data once a month, on the first business day of a month, it doesn't mean that that data, that money, was spent in that particular month. All that the data for the month of say November, 2011, was collected wholly together until maybe two months hence. In other words the data is skewed.

On April 4, 2012 I wrote a Post called:

Poutine Release of BC Ministers' & Deputy Ministers' Travel Expenses

Routine!.............., not "Poutine".

 The post includes the process by which the government supposedly collects all of the data for the month.  For example, today is May 4, 2012, the data released is for the end of the month of March 2012.  Now we are being led to believe that the Travel Expenses are not complete.  There are still some bills that are outstanding.

So why has Premier Christy Clark gone so far out of her way to say that she is providing an Open Government, Open Data, when that's far from the truth.

If what the government says is true, like down below, then maybe during the HST Referendum, the Travel expenses for the Ministers and Deputy Ministers taking flight to promote the HST is more, or less, than what has been declared on their monthly statements.   Its all been a game to Christy Clark, of smoke and mirrors.


 Perhaps the people who wrote this next bit up for the public to read should have read page 11 of this document mid way down the page  and then kept on reading onto page 12 where it lays out the importance of ensuring that the preceding monthly reports are generated in an accurate format so as not to misinform the public...

Whereas today's excuse as to why the last fiscal month report for the past YEAR data may not be accurate is this:

Explanation of Travel Expense Reports
The travel expense reports posted on the Open Information website represent the most recent monthly payment information drawn from government's financial system. The reports are derived from the same financial data used to prepare government's public accounts. However, these reports are not audited financial statements and may be subject to further reconciliation.
Travel on government business is governed by both policy and regulation. Deputy Minister travel is guided by government's Core Policy for Travel. Information regarding Ministers' travel can be found at bclaws.ca.
While expense reports are posted on a monthly basis, in some cases a monthly posting may incorporate expenses beyond that one month period, depending on when invoices or claim forms are processed. For example, a flight booked and taken in April may not appear until May, June or later monthly report.
Expense reports are based on the travel expenses paid to or on behalf of individuals and are not associated with their role or position. As a result, when a Minister or Deputy Minister changes portfolios, the travel expenses paid under their former and current roles will appear on the summary report.

If all OPEN data is not an exact science, even though the title of the report IS for March 2012, then maybe our Dear Premier would like to put a little post-it note on the page indicating WHICH month the travel expense is for and then they can all be updated on the public's home grown spreadsheet program because the BC Liberal government can't seem to get their facts straight for one single month let alone Twelve.


No spreadsheet for the Travel Expense of DM AG Loukidelis is required (by my compilations) because his total  travel expenses of Twelve months equates to approximately ONE month of the Premier's travels.

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Which reminds me, when the Premier returned home from her Trade Mission to China, India and Japan she declared that her junket cost BC Taxpayers $500,000 in travel expenses, let's call it a Half a Billion  Million Dollars ($.5 Million)     The 60 agreements and partnerships was worth just under One Point Five Billion Dollars.

Simple math, Possible deals Minus Real costs

Looks like the ratio of expenses to revenue is kind of high.......?

Are all the expenses in for that Trade Mission Premier, or are you holding back something for a quieter month of travel expense to write if off against, in the next fiscal year which started on April 1, 2012?