Opposition leader calls for MLA expenses to be posted online
Posted Feb 9, 2010 06:54:55 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Premier says he’s disbanding the secretive government committee that handles MLA expenses, in the wake of the spending scandal.
The Internal Economy Board will be replaced with a more modern commission that will meet publicly to set the rules for members’ expenses.
Liberal leader Stephen McNeil says he supports the idea, but would also like to see members’ expenses posted online.
He says it would be another way to make the process as transparent as possible.
“If those were posted online, I think members would think twice about buying a $5,000 computer or $2,000 camera, or things that are deemed to be in excess,” McNeil told The Canadian Press. “It’s my belief that if you spend it, you must defend it to your constituents.”
Last week’s report by the Auditor General concluded members of the Legislature had spent public money excessively or inappropriately from 2006 to 2009.
Yesterday, it was revealed Yarmouth PC MLA Richard Hurlburt, the owner of an $8,000 generator, was also the one who charged taxpayers for a $2,500 40-inch LCD television, plus $500 for installing it in his office.
