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B.C. Speaker pays back $5,500 for husband’s flight to South Africa

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Newly appointed Speaker of the House Linda Reid poses in her office following the first session of the 40th Parliament of British Columbia and throne speech in the Legislative Assembly on June 26, 2013 in Victoria. The Speaker of B.C.\'s legislature says she has paid back ,500 she billed taxpayers to fly her husband with her to South Africa on a business-class ticket.Speaker Linda Reid, a Liberal, says she it was common practice that legislators could take along spouses when travelling, and she and her husband flew to Johannesburg late last summer for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VANCOUVER – The Speaker of B.C.’s legislature says she’s paid back $5,500 that she billed taxpayers to fly her husband with her to South Africa on a business-class ticket last year.

Speaker Linda Reid, a Liberal, says it was common practice that legislators could take along spouses when travelling, and she and her husband flew to Johannesburg late last summer for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.

Reid says she’s sorry and won’t do it again, though she isn’t resigning.

She also says the assistant deputy speaker, New Democrat Raj Chouhan, was on the same trip and took his wife along.

Reid’s spending came under scrutiny earlier this month, when media reports detailed tens of thousands of dollars in spending, from a new desk in the legislature to a $734 snack display for politicians.

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