Wanted: people to knock on Northern Peninsula doors and explain the benefits of the Williams government during a byelection campaign. Base salary? Roughly $160,000 - or over $615 each weekday.

Oh sorry - the job's been filled. Eight times over.

That's the amount this province's cabinet members are paid. And on Thursday, there were eight of them traipsing around The Straits-White Bay North, doing their level best to convince the district's 6,783 voters to cast their votes for the ruling Conservatives - because, with only 42 of the province's 48 seats, this byelection is politically crucial to the Conservatives to maintain the balance of power in the House of Assembly.

Or something.

All that travel begs an interesting question: with eight cabinet campaigners, approximately $4,920 a day in taxpayer-funded salaries are being invested in partisan political activities. Is that money going to be paid back or docked from their salaries? Maybe they're on vacation, donating their time to the campaign. And that's just for Thursday.

There have been other visits, too, and plenty of spending, even if you don't count the policy flip-flops that will see laboratory and X-ray services restored to Flower's Cove and any of the other election goodies being handed out.

"This is a very special situation - it's an election, it's a byelection," said Innovation Minister Shawn Skinner, one of the eight fellow travellers.

"And the people who are voting need to know that government understands their concerns and supports them. The best way to do that is for us to be here and say that - show that by our presence and talk to the people about their issues."

Premier Danny Williams has been to the district four times since the byelection was called - his travel expenses, staff were quick to point out, were not billed to taxpayers. Instead, the travel tab for the ministerial flying circus is being covered by the Progressive Conservative party.

Interestingly, the party's campaign expense limit for the district is set at $27,139. Six days of a cabinet full-court press would exhaust that in salaries alone - and that's not even considering if cabinet worthies and the premier travel alone or take various assistants with them.

Nor is it considering the host of other costs associated with running a byelection, from signs to rides to a headquarters.

Then, there's the question of just how important all those cabinet ministers and their time actually are. We are frequently told how busy ministers are, how it's impossible for them to spare even a minute for questions, how they're not even really paid enough for the jobs they do.

Thursday, the ministers of Tourism, Culture and Recreation; Innovation, Trade and Rural Development; Fisheries; Government Services; Health; Natural Resources; and Education were all in the district, along with the premier.

How can this province possibly spare their critically needed skills to spend days banging on doors? Priorities, it seems, are in the eye of the political beholder.

Nice work if you can get it.