Mr. Speaker, I stand in the House today to describe a cost saving procedure in which most colleagues can share.
We all travel repeatedly from our ridings to Ottawa. Using a personal example, a regular economy flight from Mississauga to Ottawa is $443.47 return. That same flight when booked from Ottawa to Mississauga with our normal weekend stay over, which includes a Saturday, is $244.26, a difference of $199.21.
The savings per year are well over $10,000 per MP on one of the least expensive routes. For 295 MPs there would be a minimum savings of $3 million per year, a possible savings of $6 million per year.
Many of us book our travel through one agency here in Ottawa with that agency receiving a commission. With the enormous amount of travel booked by the House with MPs spending most weekends in their ridings I am severely disappointed that both airlines have not instructed our travel agent on this considerable saving.
I am also amazed that our travel agent has not instructed our staffs on the savings to Canadian taxpayers.