All-party committee tightens purse strings on MLA expenses
Posted Mar 3, 2010 06:11:31 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Internal Economy Board made quite a statement with its first-ever public meeting.
the all-party committee wasted no time and, with little debate, ordered several revisions to the rules governing MLA expenses in hopes of stilling public outrage over revelations of expenses abuse brought to light by the auditor general.
All expenses will now require receipts and must be posted online immediately.
The daily per diem has been cut from $84 to $38, and MLAs will no longer be able to expense a meal while getting the per diem.
A $1050 monthly allowance that was used for everything from office incidentals to home heat for a resident in trouble has also been eliminated.
Deputy Premier Frank Corbett says while the changes mean MLAs will be out thousands of dollars, they are necessary.
“There was a need for changes, as highlighted in the auditor general’s report,” said Corbett. “I think they needed to be changed sooner rather than later and we changed them now.”
The vote on every revision was unanimous.
“The changes were awfully hard to go against,” said Liberal MLA Manning MacDonald, who also proposed limiting advertising to just 10 per cent of an MLA’s constituency budget. “In my case I think many of them were good changes.”
He now wonders though whether we need former Speaker Art Donahoe’s $59,000 report and recommendations on changes to expenses rules, expected in July.
Corbett says Donahoe can still provide insight and recommendations for improving the system.
