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Vol. 13, No. 40, Wednesday August 1, 2018 www.LamontLeader.com
MLA defends mileage claims Jessica Littlewood wants to emulate former MLA’s lead JOHN MATHER Fort Saskatchewan Vegreville MLA Jessica Littlewood is vigorously defending herself against accusations she was exaggerating mileage claims in the constituency during the past year.
Littlewood will be reimbursed $34,800 for mileage expenses claimed between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018. The province pays 43.5 cents per km meaning Littlewood drove approximately, 80,000 km during the past
MLA Jessica Littlewood
year. She suggests that by traveling throughout the riding she is just doing her job to the best of her abilities – covering the riding as much as she can going east as far as Lavoy, north to Andrew and south to Tofield. The constituency is almost 5,000 square kilometres in size. “When I was first elected it was shared with me that Jacquie Fenske (the previous MLA) was everywhere in the community and I wanted to emu-
late that,” stated Littlewood. “I will go to my constituents rather than have them come to my office. “Often we have farmers who want you to see their issue up close; we have seniors who with lack of internet and sometimes without transportation, need their MLA to come to their home to discuss their issues. “One of the things about this which has bothered me the most is people saying, ‘well do you have to go to so many ribbons cuttings … as if that’s all it is,” explained Littlewood. It’s so much more than that, she adds, saying the communities want her to see what they are about and show off the talents and progress they are making. “It’s engaging with people and seeing what matters to them,” she said. “When I go to these events, I have people tell about the knee surgery they’ve been waiting for, or people having trouble with maintenance payments they’ve be waiting for.” She says the rural residents aren’t sure about phoning her office but they do open up to her face to face.” “Nothing replaces face to face interaction,” she said. She added one of things she found wrong with last year’s boundary commission hearings was the commissioners assumed people would email or text their problems to the MLA and, “that’s just not the reality of being a rural representative if you’re doing your job.” Under the rules set out by the members’ services committee, MLAs representing rural ridings can claim up to 80,000 km in mileage for driving personal vehicles within their constituencies, providing they submit fuel receipts.