The federal Public Works' ethics czar has billed taxpayers almost $86,000 to attend conferences since 1999, Sun Media has learned. Norman Steinberg, the director general of audit and ethics at Public Works, attended 33 conferences, retreats or training sessions in Canada and abroad since taking a nine-month leave of absence in 1998-99, according to documents obtained under the Access to Information Act. Steinberg's most expensive travel year was 2001, when he billed taxpayers $31,094 for trips that included an 11-day jaunt to China on a federal government delegation and an ethics conference in the U.S. The bills included airfare, meals, hotels, and in China, $255 for a stolen wallet. In 2002, Steinberg attended a four-day conference in Brisbane, Australia, spending another 14 days Down Under on vacation. The return leg of his trip -- the airfare cost $7,800 -- included a 24-hour taxpayer-funded layover in Hawaii. In an interview, Steinberg said that he had to bill an extra $400 for a hotel and meals in Hawaii because he's unable to travel more than five hours in a plane due to pain caused by bone marrow cancer. "I had to do that because I can't travel otherwise," he said. Steinberg said he travels a lot to talk about values and ethics, but would prefer staying in Ottawa. 'I DON'T ABUSE THE SYSTEM' "I'd rather not travel often," he said. "It's really hard to travel. It's painful for me to do." Steinberg said as chief of ethics he makes a conscious effort to be frugal when he travels, sticking to government policies that dictate what can be expensed in terms of meals and flights. "I have to be more careful than many of the other public servants," he said. "I don't abuse the system." NDP MP Pat Martin called Steinberg's travel "excessive." "This is out of control, wretched spending," Martin said. "It may not be illegal but it certainly is not ethical." Sun Media has reported that Steinberg bought a state-of-the-art entertainment system for his office on the taxpayers' dime for $22,181 in 2002. That includes a 50-inch Pioneer gas plasma TV, a Yamaha amplifier, speakers, a DVD player and a VCR. | 
