“I was exhausted”.

That was the reason Sask Party Finance Minister Donna Harpauer gave for using a private plane to fly from Regina to the North Battleford, and then on to her constituency in Humboldt.

The flight cost just under $8,000.00.

The Finance Minister had just delivered the provincial budget, and was booked for a number of engagements afterwards, to “sell” the budget.  It pretty much a tradition for ministers to hit the road around the province to talk about the budget, and what it means to specific communities.

Harpauer says after a grueling number of commitments before the trip to North Battleford, she was exhausted, and didn’t feel is was safe for her to drive the four hours to chamber of commerce luncheon.  She says she had no idea how much the flight would cost, and seemed a little surprised at the amount of blow back from the trip.

Harpauer says her travel bills are very low.  She pointed to last year, where she says she spent just over 11 thousand dollars for the entire year on travel. She says the Sask Party Government has brought costs of government travel down quite a bit, since it took office.