That’s what a lot of people think and federal MPs are doing nothing to dispel that fact. Members of all parties are doing an excellent job as portraying themselves, not only as pigs feeding at the proverbial trough but doing it fraudulently and in secret.
Almost a year ago, Auditor General Sheila Fraser wrote to Parliament and informed them that she wanted to audit the expenses of members of Parliament. Fraser is an officer of Parliament and as such has the duty to audit government departments, agencies and Crown corporations. The Auditor General concentrates on government departments as opposed to the legislative arm of Parliament. Although some MPs believe Fraser should not be auditing the legislative branch, former Auditor General Kenneth Dye noted when he held the post, he audited, among other things, House of Commons expenses. There is no legal impediment to Fraser auditing the expenses of all the members of Parliament.
After a 10-month period of waiting, the all Board of Internal Economy (BOIE) gave Sheila a resounding “no”. Her only remedy is to apply to the courts in order to conduct the audit but Fraser was quick to say she wouldn’t do that. As the National Post correctly pointed out, the refusal to have their expenses subject to an audit had drawn attention from Canadians who previously had not given the matter any thought.
There is no end of excuses that the boys and girls on the hill are making to avoid having their MP expenses audited and, egads, made public. One is that their expenses are already audited by an outside firm. While this is true, the outside auditor does not provide an exact breakdown of all their expenses. Liberal MP Paul Szabo came up with the best excuse; he thinks the results of an audit would allow MPs’ political enemies to use them against the lawmakers. The enemy might misunderstand some of the expenditures; releasing the figures is much too risky. If Canadian taxpayers didn’t have to pay for Mr. Szabo to sit around and think that up, it would almost be funny.
This is a typical case of the elite telling people to do what they say and not what they do. Taxpayers who claim expenses have to save all of their receipts and forward them to the Canadian Revenue Agency. But for those whose expenses are paid for by the public, it’s an outrage to require them to face an audit. They obviously don’t want to be audited. But then again, no one does.
What makes it more ridiculous is that we live in an age of supposed transparency. In the run up to the 2006 election, the then opposition Conservatives ran on a policy of transparency. After they were elected they passed the Accountability Act and continually brag about how transparent they are. And if that isn’t bad enough, opposition MPs spend most of their time in Question Period accusing the government of not being transparent. The opposition keeps demanding transparency. All this focus on transparency, and yet members of all parties voted not to have their Parliamentary expenses audited. That’s taking transparency way too far.
In the wake of the expenses scandals in Britain and more recently in Nova Scotia, it is hard for people to draw any other inference from the refusal to be audited other than the fact that MPs are covering up massive and systemic improper spending. Or they could be afraid of being found out as former Liberal MP David Dingwall was when it was discovered that while head of the Canadian Mint, he bought a pack of chewing gum and duly expensed it to the gullible public. Dingwall’s statement to a Parliamentary committee; that he was entitled to his entitlements, has seemingly become the motto of all House of Commons MPs.
Since the BOIE refused the request, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff has backed down somewhat suggesting that the BOIE meet with Sheila Fraser. But this is more indicative of the reason why Ignatieff was found to be the least popular of all the federal party leaders than it is that he thinks members of the House should be audited. Canada has seen many fine party leaders and Parliamentarians but Iggy isn’t one of them. After that poll that put him firmly in last place was conducted, Iggy responded that having low ratings was part of the job. Actually part of the job is giving the other guy low ratings, but I digress.
Canadians should be outraged or at least as outraged as Canadians can become. If the MPs don’t change their mind and disclose their expenses to both the auditor and the public, then it’s time to toss out the incumbents and elect new members. It probably wouldn’t change anything but we might feel better for awhile.
