This evening's poll question, do you think that Auditor General Sheila Fraser should be allowed to review the expense accounts of Members of Parliament? Today the opposition MPs rejected this in unison, except of course for the lone voice of reason coming from Gilles Duceppe. Rex Murphy had an amusing rant on the National, celebrating Gilles for being the Parliamentarian of the week, the one party leader fighting for the integrity of our legislature. Personally I'm sure there will be plenty to embarrass all parties, and since they are spending tax payer’s money I absolutely think they should be open to the public.
This follows a major scandal in Britain where several Members of Parliament from all parties were humiliated by irresponsible spending. I think one MP even bought a moat around his house to protect himself from medieval siege warfare at the tax payer's expense. I would think that most people who pay taxes would like to know what kind of personal expenses their elected officials are claiming for tax dollars. I think this is a bipartisan matter that many people on all sides can agree with and find it disturbing when party leaders come out in unison to block their expense accounts; and the only voice of reason is the blood sucking separatist! This is insane
Not only should the Auditor General be able to review the accounts of MPs, she should be required to do so on a regular basis -- at least once every four years.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Patrick, she should also be able to audit any crown corporation she wants to, without warning. They do that with our banks, why not any organization that gets government money?
ReplyDeleteCan someone post who is on the board & especially if any Tories voted against the A-G's request.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
ReplyDeleteYes, they should be audited regularly - Set time period. If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. An all party slushfund is exactly what this is and none of us are above being investigated.
ReplyDeleteOf course they don't want any waking up of sleeping dogs, as there would be an Armageddon like you never seen before.
Get with the program and have the AG investigate this snake-pit as soon as possible.
None of us are above the law.
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteCan someone post who is on the board & especially if any Tories voted against the A-G's request."
Yeah, who cares if all the other parties did it, right? People will only care if the Conservative members didn't support it! .. You're a snake!
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Bloc, NDP and Liberals! Regardless what the chief Blochead has to say about it in public too!
-Kitchener Conservative
every penny spent by any one or any level of government should audited regularly and abuses published and the abuser fired.
ReplyDeleteI think that we will find, at a minimum, that we are paying for their packs of chewing gum. Horrors, maybe smokes, too. From Caledonia.
ReplyDeleteNot only should the Auditor General be requied to review their expenses, the basic rules should be changed so the allowable expenses - and burden of proof - are the same as for a small business owner. Try to put anything through without the requisite chit (and a Visa statement is NOT adequate proof), and CRA will quickly disallow same. Try to claim GST on an expense without the correct GST number (even though one is printed on your receipt), and you get to pay it back, with penalties. Try to deduct something your auditor is inappropriate, and you're facing penalties and interest. The received wisdom in the accounting community is that, when CRA comes calling, give them something so they meet their quota (even, or especially, if you are innocent) and will go away.
ReplyDeleteI think politicians at all levels should be held to the same standard of proof - and allowance of expenses - as the small business person or employee on expenses.
Clearly every Federalist party has played into the Bloc narrative.
ReplyDeleteWe now have a new three stooges coalition.
The AG should be allowed to audit MPs, ridings, Senate Parliament CASE CLOSED.
The $ 500 per annum million "already audited BS-excuse" don't fly with me.
If you can't open your books not political party funding.
According to CBC (Mansbridge panel) the Tories and every other party (except Quebec's Bloc!!!) voted against auditing mps expenses.
ReplyDeleteThis makes Gilles Duceppe my favourite politician of the month!
This must be what Harper meant by stating back on April 2006 that the Federal Accountability Act would provide "...a new culture of accountability that will change forever the way business is done in Ottawa". Yeap, the AG's powers were increased, perhaps, but still don't apply to M.P.s expense accounts, obviously... And, judging by the way the Conservatives have been conducting themselves, can we honestly say that we're surprised?
ReplyDeleteMP expenses are gonna be peanuts to that of senators.
ReplyDeleteThe conservatives don't want to deal with the issue until their given a majority.
That way they won't have to worry about losing a seat (or three) over it.
I highly doubt there'll be anything so egregious on the governments side as compared to the opposition seats.
In any matter, would any of you prefer to risk a continuation of a needless minority government when more money will get spent since it'll mean less of a chance of cutting waste or taxes.
Which by enlarge effects everyones daily lives far more.
I'm sure though that the conservatives are the only ones likely to really bring about such audits in the first place and make them permeant.
It would be really silly to be getting lectures from the opposition parties... "We care about such spending, in fact we more than care;
WE LOVE SPENDING!"
tc