Yes, Mr. Chair.
You know, I respect all of our colleagues' comments and feedback. While I can't speak for other MPs, I can tell you that I have, without a doubt, probably one of the longest travel schedules. I still am here on Fridays. I do my very best to be here for afternoons and QP, and then I do head home. I'm home Fridays. I leave earlier if I have an event on a Friday evening.
I'll put this in B.C. time, because that's ultimately what I'm going back to. I leave my apartment at 3 a.m. I'm on the plane at 6 a.m. I arrive back into my constituency anytime between 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday. This is all B.C. time. Then I go to my events for the evening and spend Saturdays in my riding.
Again, forgive me, Mr. Chair, because I don't mean to put alternate facts out there, but I think I probably have one of the largest ridings as well. It may not be the largest riding, but I can go 1,700 kilometres for one meeting. To give you an example, last riding week I put anywhere from 2,800 kilometres to what have you on my truck. Last year I put in over 200,000 air miles.
To Mr. Badawey's comments, I think it's very important that we are the voice of our constituents. I've had the opportunity to travel with Mr. Badawey. I really respect what he's saying. I think all levels of government, all levels of elected officials, have value, and I think we all do valuable work. But to that point, I think we know what we're getting into when we put our name forward.
I know that western MPs have the highest level of divorce in Parliament. Therefore, I've always maintained that my wife, or, when I can, my children, will come out and spend time with me. I think we have an incredibly valuable program here within Parliament, which is the parliamentary spouses program. Our spouses have an opportunity to actually be part of our journey and part of the process. My wife, Kelly, comes out here with me.
I get emotional just thinking about it. I'm a softie.