Opposition parties release MLA spending

The two opposition parties in Nova Scotia have released figures showing how much their members spent on extra staff and extra pay for their constituency assistants.

All three parties in the legislature now have released these figures for the period between 2006 and 2009 in response to an auditor general's report that concluded it was unclear whether staff had paid taxes on bonuses and extra pay.

The biggest spender for the Tories was Cecil Clarke, who offered $7,500 in bonuses, overtime and expenses to his full-time constituency assistant and another $7,800 for part-time staff and other services.

The Liberals released the figures for six of the party's 11 members of the legislature.

Of those who submitted documentation, Dave Wilson spent the most, confirming that he paid his constituency assistant more than $24,000 on top on his regular salary over a year-and-a-half.

He also paid more than $37,000 over the course of three years to other staff.

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter was the biggest spender in his caucus when it came to using constituency funds to help pay salaries for assistants and cover the costs of other services.

Figures released by the NDP caucus on Thursday show Dexter spent more than $12,000 on staff and nearly $42,000 on other services such as snow removal and garbage disposal.