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Oda's habit cost taxpayers

Penalty for smoking in hotel room passed on, but paid back later
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Bev Oda: Tory MPs received an earful from voters.

A $250 US penalty for smoking in a hotel room was among the expenses charged to taxpayers by Bev Oda, sa国际传媒's former minister of international co-operation.

The then-minister was dinged in 2010 for smoking in a hotel room during a trip to Washington, D.C. Oda had been in the U.S. capital for a conference organized by maternal health advocates.

Her department confirms she expensed the fee, but paid it back two years later following a review of all her expense claims.

That review was in ordered in April after The Canadian Press revealed a number of extravagant expenses on a trip to London in 2011, including a $16 glass of orange juice.

Oda resigned from cabinet and the House of Commons in July.

The issue of her expenses had become a thorn in the Conservative government's side, with backbench Tory MPs reporting that they heard about her high-flying ways on the doorstep more often than any other issue.

Cabinet ministers are required to publicly disclose their spending on travel and hospitality.

The files made public for Oda show that expense reports for several trips during her five years as international co-operation minister have been amended. But the details of why they were changed aren't posted.