A former Newfoundland and Labrador cabinet minister, who resigned from politics last week citing his health and frustration with media scrutiny, racked up thousands of dollars in monthly cellphone costs.

Former health minister Paul Oram's BlackBerry bills totalled nearly $30,000 between April 2008 and April of this year.

The information is included in the expense reports of politicians that are posted online through the house of assembly.

In August 2008, Oram's cellphone bill was more than $4,300. The following month, it was nearly $3,000. Two months later, in November the bill was nearly $4,000.

Oram's total for the year was more than any other cabinet minister or member of the legislature. Some politicians had bills as low as about $100 a month, while others, such as Government Services Minister Kevin O'Brien, often ranged between $1,500 and $2,000 a month.

Oram said during those 12 months he was the minister in charge of the business department, and that involved a lot of international travel, to countries like Germany and India.

"During those trips, I was constantly on the phone," he said. Oram said he also travelled a lot for other cabinet ministers.

A spokesperson for O'Brien said his monthly bills are high because he also spends a lot of time on his BlackBerry, doing cabinet work and dealing with constituency issues.

Former cabinet ministers Tom Osborne and Elizabeth Marshall paid back some of their phone bills to cover the cost of personal calls. Marshall's office said she has returned her BlackBerry to government, saying she is paying for all her charges, personal or government-related, out of her own pocket.

House of assembly clerk Bill Mackenzie is in charge of monitoring political expenses for the legislature.

He said there are no set spending limits for mobility charges, because it would be "cumbersome and costly" to do a breakdown of whether the calls involve government business, constituency work, or are of a personal nature.

"We looked at it, when we saw it," Mackenzie told CBC News, referring to some of the unusually high monthly bills. "We would have to hire a staff person to figure out what are ministerial charges and what are MHA [member of the house of assembly] charges."

Phone charges for a minister come out of the department's budget, while calls related to constituency business are paid by the legislature.

Mackenzie said there are no plans to review cellphone costs to see how they can be lowered.