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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
MP expenses: Yes, you
When former auditor general Sheila Fraser announced two years ago she wanted to audit the expenses of members of Parliament, elected officials reacted with outrage and indignation. Who, us?
The attitude of all parties was they should be trusted because they had sworn an oath to be honest and because management of the House of Commons should be left to itself as a matter of principle.
After a campaign led by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the parliamentarians decided Ms. Fraser could conduct limited audits of how parliamentarians control their budgets, but she wasn't allowed to examine the individual spending of MPs or release any names if she found something objectionable.
But as the case of International Development Minister Bev Oda illustrates, spending by MPs needs far more scrutiny than it receives.
Ms. Oda's stay at a luxurious hotel in London, England, and her $1,000-a-day limousine rides and $16 glass of orange juice reveal a blatant disregard for the taxpayer. The minister has a history of profligate spending on the public's dime, but the information has only been available through federal access to information legislation.
Other levels of government have moved to a system of posting online the expenses of elected officials, with receipts, so taxpayers can scrutinize the spending of their elected officials. Public postings are not a foolproof way of halting abuse, but the risk of being outed as careless with the public purse has a policing effect that is long overdue in Ottawa.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 25, 2012 A10
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