SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Senator Nick Sibbeston says he's not taking any unnecessary trips while racking up the highest bill for travel and office expenses of any of the Canadian senators.

NWT Senator Nick Sibbeston spends more than any other Canadian senator on travel and office expenses combined but said he doesn't travel more than necessary. - Elizabeth McMillan/NNSL photo

In the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Sibbeston spent $190,172 on travel and $139,770 on office expenses, which was also more than senators from the two other territories. Sibbeston's salary as a senator is $132,300 a year.

"I live the furthest away," he said. "I don't misuse the privileges in any way."

The Liberal appointee said senators for the Yukon and Nunavut haven't spent the entire year working and may not take their spouses with them.

Sibbeston said he does some travelling to meetings within the territory but claimed he hadn't flown to any party fundraisers or Liberal functions.

"Most of the money is me going from (Fort) Simpson to Ottawa. It just costs a lot of money."

His wife, Karen, usually travels with him to Ottawa, where they spend on average three weeks at a time.

"That's part of the benefits that apply to senators," he said concerning being able to take his wife with him.

"There are no restrictions on travel in Canada. The money is basically there for you to travel (from) your home to Ottawa," he said.

Sibbeston estimated he spends half his year in Ottawa and said travel is one of the tougher aspects of his job.

"We don't have the privilege of ability to go home every weekend as most senators do," he said. "If there's anything that makes me leave the Senate earlier than 75, it will be that. The travel is so onerous."

He said when he travels home, he leaves Ottawa at 8 p.m. on a Thursday and doesn't make it back to Fort Simpson until noon on Friday, spending a night in Edmonton along the way. The return to Ottawa takes the same amount of time.

At his office in Ottawa, Sibbeston employs a researcher and an executive assistant. He was appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Jean Chretien in 1999.

Sibbeston's expenses came to light when the NDP released a memo to the media entitled, "Senator of the week" on Nov. 20, just a week after Sibbeston made a speech at the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce where he said the territory should put less money into social programs and more into business development.

Dennis Bevington, the Western Arctic MP and NDP member, said the timing was coincidental.

"I don't think the NDP knew anything about his comments on social programs," he said. "But in reality, if you're a public person as a senator, that's one of the problems. You can pretty much say what you want to say. You're not in any fear of losing your position of your livelihood."

He said the point of the release was to point out just how much maintaining the Senate costs.

"The NDP has always had a pretty strong position on the Senate and it's usefulness. We don't actually see the purpose of the Senate," he said.

In 2007-2008, Bevington's travel costs were the highest of the Northern MPs at $188,558, just $2,000 less than Sibbeston's.

Bevington said he travels back and forth from Ottawa between 30 and 35 times a year and always buys economy tickets. He said, it's "tremendously expensive to travel in the North. There's no getting around that."

But Bevington added his duties as an MP are different than that of a senator. Unlike senators, he said MPs have to maintain constituency offices and have a responsibility to travel to different communities in his or her ridings.

He said the House of Commons meets twice as many days a year as the Senate.

"When you talk about the work of Parliament, that's the difference," he said.