Monday, May 17, 2010

Green Party Calls for MPs to Open Expenses to Auditor-General

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, Earth Mother Lizzie May put out a press release this morning and she's on the money a hunnert percent's worth, sez I.

Greens call for transparency

17 May 2010 - 10:26am

The Green Party of Canada pledges full support for the Auditor General in her bid to increase the transparency of MPs' spending habits. Greens are calling for the release to the Auditor General of the last 10 years of MP expenses.

"The Green Party of Canada fully supports the Auditor General having a mandate to oversee MP expenses," said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "The Canadian public deserves accountability for the half billion dollars MPs spend every year. The fact that MPs are afraid to have Sheila Fraser examine their accounts suggests that it is probably long overdue."

Provincial governments and the government of Britain have been rocked by government spending scandals in recent years, adding to the disillusionment of citizens and mistrust of politicians.

"Given the declining voting record in this country, Parliament should be doing everything possible to encourage public trust and engagement in democracy," said May.

According to the Toronto Star, a Leger Marketing poll showed 88% of Canadians would like a deeper examination of politicians' expense accounts. Currently, details of any spending by MPs and senators are kept secret.

"For someone who campaigned on transparency, Prime Minister Harper is failing miserably," said May. "Shame on the Liberals and the NDP for agreeing that the public doesn't deserve to know how their tax money is being spent."

Dang right!

JimBobby

3 comments:

Scott in Montreal said...

And people wonder why Quebeckers continually vote BQ (the only party in agreement with May and the AG). Those are some of the best, hardest-working MPs in the HoC. And they listen to their constituency.

Anonymous said...

I still say (and did so on my blog) that the GPC should go one step further and offer up the GPC books as example of transparency.

JimBobby said...

Thanks for the comments, Scott and Mark.

Mark, I don't disagree. I do think that the move today will put some pressure on the big three to follow the GPC lead.