Travel & Hospitality

These reports are to appear on a quarterly basis. The information will be posted within 30 days following the reporting period. The schedule for the fiscal years 2003-04 and 2004-05 follows:

Reporting Period	Information to be posted on web site by
December 12, 2003 - March 1, 2004	March 31, 2004
March 2, 2004 - June 1, 2004	July 1, 2004
June 2, 2004 - September 1, 2004	October 1, 2004
September 2, 2004 - December 1, 2004	December 31, 2004
December 2, 2004 - March 1, 2005	March 31, 2005

2. What is the reason for the disclosure of this information?

On December 12, 2003, the government released the Guide for Ministers and Ministers of State and Guidelines for Ministers' Offices, which stipulate that all travel and hospitality expenses for Ministers, Ministers of State, Parliamentary Secretaries, and their exempt staff will be provided on institutional web sites.

This policy also applies to senior Government of Canada employees.

3. Which employees' expenses must be disclosed in this manner?

The Minister of ACOA, ministerial exempt staff, the President of ACOA, and each vice president must report their travel and hospitality expenses.

4. What is meant by exempt staff?

Exempt staff are personnel not subject to the normal appointment procedures of the Government of Canada.

A minister's executive assistant and certain other staff related to the portfolio are designated in this manner. The office structure of the present ACOA Minister is typical, and includes the following exempt staff:

one Chief of Staff ;

one Senior Policy Advisor;

one Director of Communications;

one Director of Parliamentary Affairs;

one Special Assistant - Communications;

one Special Assistant - Parliamentary Affairs; and

three Special Assistants - Regional Offices

5. What is Hospitality?

Hospitality is the provision of refreshments, meals, and sometimes entertainment to guests of ACOA. It is extended in an economical, consistent and appropriate way, when it will facilitate government business, or is considered desirable as a matter of courtesy.

Refreshments, meals, or both may be offered to employees who participate in work sessions extending over meal hours or beyond normal working hours. These costs are coded to hospitality as per the Treasury Board Hospitality Policy.

6. What types of expenses are charged to travel?

Generally, employees of ACOA are reimbursed reasonable expenses necessarily incurred during travel on government business. The traveller will be compensated for transportation costs related to air or train travel, rental cars, or any other reasonable method of reaching their destination.

If required, travellers are also reimbursed for accommodation costs at either commercial or private locations.

Compensation for meals and incidental expenses is also provided.

The incidental expenses allowance is to cover the costs of items which can be attributed to a period in travel, but for which no other reimbursement or allowance is provided. It is intended to help offset some of the expenses incurred as a result of being required to travel on government business. It includes, but is not limited to, such items as gratuities, laundry, dry cleaning, bottled water, phone calls home, and shipping of some personal effects.

All ACOA employees receive reimbursement in accordance with the rates and allowances in the Treasury Board Travel Directive and Special Travel Authorities.

7. What information is to be included?

For travel, the following information is required:

Purpose: A description of the reason for the government trip in question.

Travel month and numbers of days: Identifies the month in which the travel took place and the number of days (full and partial) for which the individual was in travel status.

Destination: To include names of all places visited to conduct government business during the trip in question.

Air fare: Total cost of the airline ticket, if applicable.

Other transportation: Total cost of all other forms of transportation (e.g. train, bus, vehicle rental, private vehicle, taxis, etc), if applicable.

Accommodation: Total cost of accommodation.

Meals and incidentals: Total cost of meals and incidentals.

Other: All other expenses incurred that are not reflected in the information fields above (e.g. cost of a special passport, visas, and associated photos, calls to the office or home, dependant care where applicable, etc.).

Total: The total cost incurred for the trip in question.

For hospitality, the following information is required:

Purpose: To cover both the form (e.g. breakfast, lunch, dinner, reception, refreshments, coffee and muffins, theatre tickets) and circumstances (i.e. the purpose) of the hospitality.

Date(s): The date(s) during which hospitality was provided.

Attendee(s) breakdown: The total number of attendees, and the breakdown according to the number of Government of Canada officials and the number of guests.

Location: Must include the city where hospitality was provided and the name of the commercial establishment (i.e. restaurant or other location) and/or caterer (for in-house hospitality) that provided it.

Total: The total cost incurred for the hospitality in question.