Any MLA grumbling about the necessity of posting receipts online needs to remember who pays for those expenses. Taxpayers seeking the details of expenses incurred by legislators are not poking into the private lives of MLAs, but are examining how public money is spent. They have every right to know.
The legislative management committee has agreed to begin posting expenses on line, including receipts. It鈥檚 progress, but it has come grudgingly, and the reluctance of at least a couple of MLAs shows that not everyone is clear on the concept of transparency.
The receipts should be online beginning Sept. 1, and will be similar to the system used in Alberta, where MLAs regularly post expenses, broken down into categories and backed up by receipts.
Finance Minister Mike de Jong, who pushed for the measure, says abuses elsewhere make the system necessary, referring to Nova Scotia, where several MLAs have been charged and jailed for improper expenses. At least four senators are under investigation for expense claims, with one resigning and three suspended from the Senate.
In Alberta, Alison Redford was forced out of the premier鈥檚 office over unreasonable expenses, and there will always be the legendary $16 glass of orange juice claimed by former federal cabinet minister Bev Oda to stand as an icon for out-of-control legislator entitlement.
Expenses racked up by Linda Reid as she took over as Speaker of the sa国际传媒 legislature added to the perception that elected officials don鈥檛 always have the public鈥檚 best interests in mind when they spend, especially on themselves.
Although the management committee gave unanimous approval to the proposed policy, it was not without some grumbling.
鈥淒o people believe that these claims are being submitted fraudulently and that there are no receipts supporting them?鈥� said NDP house leader Bruce Ralston, suggesting that no one will look at the receipts.
The owner of a large business might not look at every receipt, leaving that up to the accounting department, but reserves the right to do so. The owners of the business that is government 鈥� the people of sa国际传媒 鈥� have every right, even a responsibility, to know how their money is being spent.
鈥淪omeone obviously feels that we鈥檙e stealing money, or there wouldn鈥檛 be this big push for us to do this,鈥� said Liberal MLA Eric Foster.
These two MLAS have missed the point. The issue is more about propriety than legality. While there have been cases of fraud and dishonesty, the bigger problem is a difference of opinion on what constitutes a legitimate expense. Reid undoubtedly thought she was entitled to take her husband along on a publicly funded trip to South Africa last August. And she was, according to the rules and precedents. She broke no law. But the public, on learning of the cost, decided that and other expenses were unreasonable, and so the rules are being adjusted.
MLAs are entitled to fly staff on business trips or family members to Victoria 12 times a year, and de Jong has suggested quashing the $61 per diem for family members during those trips. Ralston objected to that, saying it鈥檚 hard to imagine not feeding one鈥檚 children when they鈥檙e in town. A single mother who has had a child-support payment deducted from her welfare cheque would find it hard to imagine paying $61 to feed someone for a day.
The legislators are moving in the right direction as they work toward more transparency, but it behooves them to move more enthusiastically. This is not questioning their integrity, but merely asking for straightforward accountability and accounting.
If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear, but nothing erodes trust faster than saying: 鈥淭rust me.鈥�
