Editor:
Re: Media focuses on some MPs, June 13 letters.
Letter-writer M. Penner accuses the media of bias in printing MP Russ Hiebert’s extraordinary travel expenses in 2010.
For the record, those figures were first released by the government and only made headlines when it became apparent that Hiebert (South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale) had the second-highest expenses in the country and the highest in B.C.
It was the media, doing its job, who then discovered, among other things, that Hiebert was flying his wife and children first-class to and from Ottawa, all on taxpayers’ dollars.
The fault lies not with the media but with Hiebert’s sense of entitlement and lack of judgment.
When raising the late Jack Layton’s expenses, Penner failed to take into account Layton was not just an MP but also the leader of his party. Of course his expenses would be higher.
Penny Essex, Surrey