Manitoba cabinet ministers’ travel expenses now online, but not those of staff [Video]

Out-of-province travel expenses for Manitoba cabinet ministers are being posted online again after a hiatus of more than a year, but the disclosure still does not include spending by accompanying political or department staff, which can be higher.

One of the expenses posted this week, for Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, lists $6,649 for a trip to New York between March 10 and 15, including airfare, hotel and meal costs.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press under the province’s freedom of information law show there was more. The province also paid for Fontaine’s director of ministerial affairs and two members of Gender Equity Manitoba, a branch of the Families department.

The total cost for all four individuals was $23,105, the documents state. Hotel rooms accounted for more than half the cost, while flights, ground transportation, meals and unspecified “incidentals” made up the rest.

The four attended an annual conference of the …