Mr. Speaker, the government says that it is looking for suggestions on ways to trim costs. We have found a way.
Air travel cost the government $275 million in 1993-94. While some departments were reasonable, others were not. The
Privy Council Office has only 650 employees but took 2,400 flights, nearly one-third of them business class. That is four flights per employee. The same with Environment Canada: 22,000 flights but only 6,000 employees. The Canada Labour Relations Board flew high with 42 per cent of its flights in business class.
For the grand-daddy of them all, nearly half of all government flights were booked by national defence with 190,000 flights not including peacekeeping and military missions. DND alone spent $83 million.
There is an invention the government should know about. It is called the telephone. I call upon the government to show some leadership, let its fingers do the walking, and reduce flights by 15 per cent in the coming year.