Files show soaring airfare tab of Veterans Minister

[CHIMO]

Files show soaring airfare tab of Veterans Minister
Charter plane trips cost nearly $18,000

OTTAWA — Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson spent $18,000 to charter five return flights between his home in New Brunswick and other destinations in Eastern Canada earlier this year, government records show.

On average, Mr. Thompson's charter flights cost $3,600 each as he travelled to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Ontario.

The records are among travel and hospitality expense disclosures for federal cabinet ministers, their staff and senior civil servants, made public recently.

Mr. Thompson's most expensive flight left his home base in St. Stephen on a Monday, picking up another person in Fredericton on the way to Ottawa.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060713.wxvets13/BNStory/National/home

And more in the article that the "Squeaky Clean" will have a hard time rationalizing.