Northern MPPs spend big bucks

Two northern provincial New Democrats have among the highest MPP travel and office expenses in Ontario.  Gilles Bisson, the member for Timmins – James Bay spent just more than $94,000 on travel and accommodations last year.   Bisson defends the expenditure saying his riding is larger than some European countries and some communities are only accessible by air.  The other big spender is John Vanthof represents Timiskaming- Cochrane.  Vanthof’s travel costs were just short of $40,000.  Meanwhile both MPP’s office expenses were about $300,000 because they need extra offices in order to cover the large ridings.