PARLIAMENTARY PRICE TAG — Playbook's inbox pinged with a quarterly reminder of how much MPs billed the taxpayer over a three-month period. The House of Commons website recently dropped figures for the third quarter of 2022–23. Finally, we get to learn how much dough our elected officials spent on cell phone data overages between October and December last year. (The answer is C$22,270.86, the smallest sum in at least a year — and on par with the C$24,550.61 spent in the same quarter a year prior. Liberal MP WAYNE LONG led the pack at C$633.73.) — Total expenses: Parliamentarians billed the people for C$38.6 million in salaries, travel, hospitality and contracts — almost C$8 million more than the same period a year earlier. — What they're reading: Tory MP SCOTT AITCHISON topped the list of paid subs with his balanced diet of the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and Blacklock's Reporter. Labor Minister SEAMUS O'REGAN took second spot. He read the Washington Post and the Times — both the Hill Times and a certain New York paper. Third on the list? PIERRE POILIEVRE, who subscribed to Bloomberg, The Economist, The National Post and Medium. Tory MP TOM KMIEC, whose paid-up reading list includes The Line and Blacklock's, also expensed C$980 in access-to-information requests under the same category. — Surfing the net: The National Post reported in January that dozens of MPs were expensing their home internet during the pandemic, a perk on the wish list of legions of work-from-homers. The taxpayers' federation was predictably alarmed. Liberal MP HEDY FRY defended the line item at the time, but her party joined the Conservatives in putting a stop to it. The all-party board of internal economy that governs the House barred MPs from expensing home internet at a February meeting. But the change didn't take effect until March 31. 53 MPs took advantage of the informal benefit between October and December, to the tune of C$16,686.83. The tally included 27 Conservatives, 18 Liberals, seven Bloquistes, and Indy MP KEVIN VUONG. (Liberal whip STEVE MACKINNON, who reportedly relayed the instruction that his caucus pay their own bills, expensed his October and November charges — but not December's.) — Most shreddy: Nobody sliced and diced more paper than the vacant office formerly occupied by Liberal MP SVEN SPENGEMANN. The folks in Mississauga–Lakeshore paid Shred-it a total of C$674.26 between June and November. Spengemann resigned in May. — Top renovator: Tory MP ZIAB ABOULTAIF billed C$50,000 in office renovations in the third quarter, enough for top spot. But Liberal MP WILSON MIAO tacked on tens of thousands to his year-long effort to spiff up the constit office. The rookie MP has dished out C$121,756.52 since the last election. FOLLOW THIS MAN — He retired from his watchdog role two years early in February due to "persistent health issues," but former ethics commissioner MARIO DION is still barking about government malfeasance from the outside. Dion joined Twitter the same month he stepped down. In late March, he flagged a change to the job description and salary in the posting for his permanent successor. The Post later reported on the C$110,000 wage cut. The ex-watchdog later took a shot at bureaucrats. "Full time equivalents increasing at an unprecedented rate," he tweeted in response to a Parliamentary Budget Officer report on the size of the public service. "I am not sure it is matched by quality services." And Dion trained his sights on Toronto, too. "Bureaucracies are so efficient at killing good things: business initiative, opportunities to socialize, taking fresh (?) air," he tweeted in response to a Toronto Star report on reduced outdoor patios in the city. — Request denied: Dion granted only one interview at the end of his term, chatting with the Post's CHRIS NARDI. He declined Playbook's request last week. Shortly after, a tweet: "My goal is not to attract a large contingent of followers but simply to contribute to awareness of conflict of interests issues." Dion dabbled in the anti-Trudeau conspiracy corner of social media. The PM spent Easter weekend in Montana. His haters speculated he was skiing at an exclusive resort. "I have a feeling we will hear more about this," tweeted Dion. We anticipate more saltiness. FLOOD WATCH — Seen the Rideau River recently? It's rushing past old city hall and over Rideau Falls into the Ottawa River. It's that time of year. On the heels of an ice storm that plagued the city's power grid with outages, the local conservation authority now has flood watches and warnings through much of the watershed. — More to come: The Ottawa River Regulation Planning Board isn't yet sounding the alarm about major flooding, but a recent bulletin warns the combo of warm temps and above-average snowpack in the river valley "could create possible flooding in low-lying areas" that are regularly flooded in the spring. Snow melt is only one factor in river levels. Weather conditions "that can only be known a few days in advance" — i.e. rain — also play a major role. Keep an eye on the sky. When Ottawa floods, it makes the news.
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