To use the Calendar, Javascript must be activated in your browser.
For more information

Home > Members > Expense Reports > Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

The expense reports show the amounts spent by Members for a fiscal year (April 1 to March 31) and paid out of the budgets and allowances granted by the Assemblée nationale to Members for the exercise of their functions.

For Members, the expense report shows the following year-to-date expenses:

For House officers, the expense report shows the following year-to-date expenses:

In the case of independent Members and Members who are responsible for their political party's Research and Support Service, the expense report also shows the following year-to-date expenses:

  • Payroll expenses: remuneration for staff hired by each party or by the independent Member.
  • Staff travel expenses: expenses incurred for staff travel.
  • Research Service operating budget: expenses incurred for operation of the Research Service.

The riding office operating budget, House office operating budget and Research and Support Service operating budget also show year-to-date expenses for various expense subcategories, which can be found on the Expenses incurred by Members, House Officers and Research Services page.

To ensure Members' work is more open and transparent, the Bureau of the Assemblée nationale has adopted rules requiring the annual publication of an expense report on the institution's website for each Member and each House officer. These rules have been incorporated into sections 128.1 to 128.6 of the Regulation Respecting Members' and House Officers' Allowances and Research and Administrative Support Funding (PDF, 496 KB) (French only).

The expense reports for Members and House officers are published once a year and cover the amounts spent during a fiscal year (April 1 to March 31).

The expense reports are posted on the Assemblée nationale website in the months following the end of the fiscal year, which ends on March 31.

The first period subject to disclosure of expense reports is the fiscal year 2020-2021. The expense reports for subsequent fiscal years will be published on the Expense Reports page.

Various amounts are granted to Members for their parliamentary functions. For more information on the allocated resources, see the Indemnities and Allowances section.

The amounts granted to Members for the riding office operating budget, payroll expenses and staff travel expenses vary depending on the riding group. These groups are established based on the size of the ridings:

Classification scale for riding groups based on their size

Classification scale for riding groups based on their size
GroupsScale
I 0–550 km²        
II 550–1,000 km²
III 1,000–5,000 km²
IV 5,000–60,000 km²
V over 60,000 km²

The distribution of ridings between the five groups is set out in Schedule A of the Regulation Respecting Members' and House Officers' Allowances and Research and Administrative Support Funding (PDF, 496 KB) (French only).

For the riding office operating budget, a Member whose riding belongs to group III, IV or V and who rents a second or third riding office is entitled to an additional amount for the operation of that or those offices. An additional amount is granted to a Member if the rent and related expenses for the riding office represent over 45% of the operating budget allocated to the Member. For more information on the additional amounts, see the Indemnities and Allowances section.

For accommodations in the city of Québec or in ridings, the maximum amount of reimbursable expenses is the same for all Members entitled to them, with the exception of the President of the Assemblée nationale, the Premier, the leaders of the opposition groups, the Government House Leader, the House leaders of the opposition groups, the Chief Government Whip, the Chief Official Opposition Whip, the Government Caucus Chair and the Chair of the Official Opposition Caucus, who are entitled to an additional amount of $3,000 for each fiscal year. In addition, on receiving a written request that includes reasons and is addressed to the Secretary General, the Bureau of the Assemblée nationale may authorize the reimbursement of additional accommodation expenses not exceeding $3,000 annually to a Member who establishes that the allocated amount is insufficient and determines the amount that will be needed. This rule is set out in section 78 of the Regulation Respecting Members' and House Officers' Allowances and Research and Administrative Support Funding (PDF, 496 KB) (French only).

Regarding a Member's travel expenses between the Member's riding and the hôtel du Parlement, each Member is entitled to a maximum of 60 round trips per fiscal year. Members who hold the offices listed below are entitled to 10 additional round trips per fiscal year:

  • Vice-President of the Assemblée nationale
  • House Leader of an opposition group
  • Government or Official Opposition Deputy House Leader
  • Chief Government Whip or Chief Official Opposition Whip or Whip of an opposition group
  • Deputy Government Whip or Deputy Official Opposition Whip
  • Government Caucus Chair or Chair of Official Opposition Caucus
  • Assemblée nationale standing committee Chair or Vice-Chair
  • Member of the Bureau of the Assemblée nationale

However, Members representing ridings that are completely or partially included in the territory of the city of Québec or are adjacent to it are not entitled to be reimbursed for their expenses for travel between their riding and the hôtel du Parlement.

The ridings that are completely or partially included in the territory of the city of Québec or are adjacent to it are those of Charlesbourg, Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré, Chauveau, Jean-Lesage, Jean-Talon, La Peltrie, Louis-Hébert, Montmorency, Taschereau and Vanier-Les Rivières.

Each Member is vested with independence for the management of the resources at their disposal.

In addition, a riding's characteristics, such as its size, location and socio-economic portrait, may affect the Member's expenses to an extent. These characteristics can be found on the Élections Québec website.

Budget overruns are not allowed. Each Member is responsible for the resources at their disposal and is not allowed to exceed the total allocated budget.

However, Members may transfer amounts between the following expense categories: riding office operating budget, operating budget for a caucus chair (if applicable), budget for payroll expenses and budget for staff travel expenses.

House officers may also transfer amounts between the following expense categories: riding office operating budget, House office operating budget and budget for payroll expenses.

The total expenses for any given expense category may therefore exceed the budget allocated to the category because of such transfers. However, the total budget can never be exceeded.

To be entitled to reimbursement for accommodation expenses in the city of Québec, the following condition must be met:

The Member's main residence must be located outside the territory of the city of Québec and the ridings adjacent to it or, in the case of a Member whose main residence is in the riding of Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré, more than 50 kilometres from the hôtel du Parlement by the shortest road.

To be entitled to reimbursement for accommodation expenses in the Member's riding, the following condition must be met:

The Member's main residence must be located within the territory of the city of Québec or the ridings adjacent to it or, in the case of a Member whose main residence is in the riding of Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré, less than 50 kilometres from the hôtel du Parlement by the shortest road.

However, Members who represent ridings within the territory of the city of Québec or its immediate vicinity are not entitled to reimbursement for accommodation expenses in their riding.

The ridings that are completely or partially included in the territory of the city of Québec or are adjacent to it are those of Charlesbourg, Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré, Chauveau, Jean-Lesage, Jean-Talon, La Peltrie, Louis-Hébert, Montmorency, Taschereau and Vanier-Les Rivières.

The Premier, ministers, the President of the Assemblée nationale and the leaders of the opposition groups have official vehicles and are not entitled to reimbursement by the Assemblée nationale for their travel expenses. In addition, the Chief Government Whip and Chief Official Opposition Whip may request an official vehicle; if their request is granted, they are not entitled to reimbursement of their travel expenses.

Members representing ridings that are completely or partially included in the territory of the city of Québec or are adjacent to it are not entitled to be reimbursed for their expenses for travel between their riding and the hôtel du Parlement.

The ridings that are completely or partially included in the territory of the city of Québec or are adjacent to it are those of Charlesbourg, Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré, Chauveau, Jean-Lesage, Jean-Talon, La Peltrie, Louis-Hébert, Montmorency, Taschereau and Vanier-Les Rivières.

If a Member's seat becomes vacant, the chief whip of the parliamentary group to which the member belongs becomes responsible for the riding.

If the Member whose seat becomes vacant was the President of the Assemblée nationale, the chief whip of the parliamentary group to which the Member would have belonged, had that Member not been holding the office of President, exercises the relevant powers.

If a Member whose seat becomes vacant belonged to a parliamentary group that does not have a chief whip, the leader of that group exercises the relevant powers.

Lastly, if a Member whose seat becomes vacant was an independent Member, the President of the Assemblée nationale exercises the relevant powers.

In all cases, the expenses for a riding whose seat is vacant are published under the name of the Member responsible for the riding.

Members appointed to one of the following offices are House officers of the Assemblée nationale:

  • President of the Assemblée nationale
  • Vice-President of the Assemblée nationale
  • Leader of an opposition group
  • Government House Leader or House Leader of an opposition group
  • Chief Government Whip or Chief Official Opposition Whip or Whip of an opposition group

For more information on the functions exercised by House officers, see the Parliamentary Offices section.

Considering the additional parliamentary functions exercised by House officers, additional funds are made available to them. House officers' budgets and allowances can be found in the Indemnities and Allowances section.

The expenses related to these parliamentary functions must therefore also be disclosed, in addition to the Member's expense report. A House officer will then have two expense reports published under their name.

Yes. The Assemblée nationale allocates amounts to ministers for their functions, as it does to all Members. Ministers' expenses, including those of the Premier, are made public for the following categories:

However, ministers are not entitled to reimbursement by the Assemblée nationale for expenses related to their ministerial duties, that is, for expenses in the following categories:

For more information on ministers' expenses, see the website of the government department concerned or the Gouvernement du Québec portal.

First, the Assemblée nationale does not allocate a payroll budget to ministers. Ministers are therefore not entitled to reimbursement by the Assemblée for expenses related to staff remuneration. For more information on ministers' expenses, see the website of the government department concerned or the Gouvernement du Québec portal.

Second, House officers receive a single payroll budget for the remuneration of all their staff, which includes riding staff and House office staff. For these Members, the payroll expense line is therefore left blank in their Member's expense report, and payroll expenses are instead published in their House officer expense report.

No. Travel expenses for a House officer's staff are paid out of the Assemblée's budgets.

This category includes the fees for membership in RECYC-QUÉBEC'S "Ici on recycle +" program and the disbursements by the Member for the greenhouse gas (GHG) voluntary offset program (French only). This program makes it possible to offset the GHG emissions resulting from the Member's travel between their riding and the hôtel du Parlement, as well as those resulting from their riding office activities.

For the expenses incurred by a Member to offset GHG emissions, the following factors are also considered:

  • the distance between the riding and the hôtel du Parlement;
  • the size of the riding;
  • the type of vehicle driven (electric vehicle, hybrid, sedan, minivan, etc.);
  • the type of energy used in the riding office (electricity, natural gas, heating oil, etc.);
  • the fairness measure and the public transit incentive, which are paid out of the Assemblée nationale's budget and do not appear in the Members' expense reports;
  • the fact that ministers cannot offset emissions resulting from their travel because these costs are not paid by the Assemblée nationale; and
  • the choice of offset organization, as carbon credit prices vary.

For additional information on the offsetting of GHG emissions, see the GHG voluntary offset program section (French only).

For more information about the financial resources allocated to Members and the terms of publication for expense reports, write to renseignements@assnat.qc.ca.

Questions about a specific Member's expenses may be addressed to the Member concerned. To do this, see the list of MNAs in Office and click on the Member's name to find the contact information.

This category includes the leasehold improvements and equipment intended to improve accessibility for persons with disabilities in accordance with the accessibility criteria set out in the Assemblée nationale's policy on the accessibility of riding offices for persons with disabilities entitled Politique sur l'accessibilité des bureaux de circonscription aux personnes handicapées de l'Assemblée nationale (French only).