REGINA: According to flight logs obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), 19 Saskatchewan Cabinet Ministers flew 1431 times on government-owed aircraft and chartered planes in the year 2000 - an average of 75 flights per flying Cabinet Minister, or 28 flights per week. "There are more politicians in the air than Canada geese," says Richard Truscott, Saskatchewan Director of the CTF.

Other aircraft passengers include ministerial aides, bureaucrats, judges, Crown employees, and a handful of MLAs. There were also 61 flights by the family members of Cabinet Ministers. In total, 3276 flights were taken on the government tab in 2000, almost all of those within Saskatchewan. "The taxpayers' planes are being very heavily used, and possibly misused from time to time," says Truscott.

FREQUENT FLYER AWARD

"Buckley Belanger wins the Frequent Flyer Award for flying the most, for flying the most family members, and for flying more than any other candidate during the NDP leadership race," says Truscott. "But burning all that airplane fuel can't be good for the environment," he warns.

Belanger flew 131 times in 2000, or once every three days on average. He is followed closely by Pat Atkinson, Roy Romanow, Janice MacKinnon, Jack Hillson, and Judy Junor, all of whom flew more than 100 times last year. "These politicians should have sprouted their own wings by now," says Truscott.

Cabinet Minister flights in 2000:
Belanger - 131, Atkinson - 124, Romanow - 114, MacKinnon - 122, Hillson - 102, Junor - 101, Axworthy - 91, Melenchuk - 89, Goulet - 87, Sonntag - 85, Lautermilch - 81, Cline - 67, Hagel - 65, Lingenfelter - 49, Serby - 42, Nilson - 23, Hamilton - 21, Van Mulligen - 20, Crofford - 17. Other Cabinet Ministers were not listed in the flight logs.

THE FLYING MINIVAN

Buckley Belanger also flew the most family members, with 17 trips recorded in 2000.

Family members of Cabinet Ministers can fly for free on a stand-by basis, so long as the plane isn't full and isn't required to make an extra stop. But occasionally the only people on the plane are the Minister and family members. "It's hard to know in some cases if these are legitimate standby trips or if Ministers are just using the planes like the family minivan," says Truscott.

Truscott offered a couple of examples from the lazy days of last summer:

On July 24, 2000, a government plane flew from Regina to Buckley Belanger's home town of Ile-a-la-Crosse to pick up the Minister and four family members and fly them to Saskatoon. On July 27 a plane flew from Regina to Saskatoon to retrieve Mr. Belanger and five family members and return them to Ile-a-la-Crosse. No other passengers were on either flight.
Also on July 24, 2000, a plane flew from Regina to Meadow Lake to pick up Maynard Sonntag and two family members and fly them to Regina. Keith Goulet was on the leg from Saskatoon to Regina. On August 4, a plane returned the Sonntag family from Regina to Meadow Lake, with no other passengers on the plane.
Top family flyers aside from Mr. Belanger include Keith Goulet (11 flights), Roy Romanow (11 flights), Maynard Sonntag (6 flights). Mrs. Romanow flew by herself three times last year, the fare paid out of the Premier's budget. Most of these flights were in Saskatchewan. But Mrs. Belanger and Mrs. Lautermilch, for instance, went on a trip to Quebec with their husbands.

Family flights in 2000:
Belanger - 17, Goulet - 11, Romanow - 11, Sonntag - 6, Hillson - 4, Lautermilch - 3, Melenchuk - 3, Axworthy - 2, Hagel - 2, Lingenfelter - 1, Nilson - 1

LEADER OF THE SKIES

Buckley Belanger was also 'Leader of the Skies' for using the government plane more than any other candidate during the NDP leadership campaign late last year and into January 2001.

Mr. Belanger flew every three days on average (24 flights during his 71 days on the trail), which is about what he usually flies. Maynard Sonntag flew every four days (26/103), which is also par for the course. Joanne Crofford flew 13 times in 104 days, which is more than 2.5 times her average for the year. Chris Axworthy flew much less than usual after leaving cabinet to run for the leadership (10/114). But he still took three flights (Oct 20, Nov 16) between Regina and Saskatoon on the Legislature's tab, in spite of the rule that MLAs whose ridings are within 350 kms are not supposed to use the government planes.

"The big question is whether some leadership candidates were using the taxpayers' planes for their leadership business, the flight logs suggest they were some of the time," says Truscott.

On December 4 there was an NDP leadership forum in Meadow Lake. The next morning (Dec 5) a government plane picked up Belanger and Crofford in Meadow Lake and took them to Regina. On December 5 there was a forum in the Battlefords. The next morning (Dec 6) a plane flew Belanger from North Battleford to a day-time forum in LaRonge. Later that evening there was another forum in Prince Albert. The next morning (Dec 7) a plane flew Belanger, Crofford, and Sonntag from Prince Albert to Regina, where there was a forum on the evening of December 7.
"It would certainly appear that some leadership candidates were shuttling to some NDP events at taxpayer expense over this particular stretch of the campaign," says Truscott.

Last November, the CTF discovered through Freedom of Information that the cost of operating the provincial government's fleet of aircraft in 2000-2001 is expected to be about $1.7 million, 129% higher than it was five years ago. The total number of miles flown in 2000-01 was also on course to be about 29% higher than the year previous and 61% higher than 1996-97.

"Saskatchewan isn't getting any bigger, but our politicians, their families, and our bureaucrats are flying a lot more than they used to, and its costing taxpayers a lot of money," says Truscott.