The MPs Expense Account (Shhh, Don't Tell the Public) Support Act

Didn't we just get rid of these expense-account dodges? Wasn't that the argument for increasing their pay? Yet here they are again, raising their own pay again, on the sly, minutes before skipping town. Again. Even the Star is onto them this time:

At a secret meeting May 1, Speaker Peter Milliken and the House leaders of the four parties decided to boost the MPs' expense allowance for living in Ottawa by 20 per cent, from $20,000 to $24,000. Although the base salary for MPs now stands at $147,700, the attendees at the closed-door meeting concluded that to house themselves in Ottawa, the people's representatives needed $2,000 a month... They didn't issue a press release advising taxpayers. They didn't call a press conference so the media could spread the good news. What they did was to wait more than a month, and release the minutes of their meeting last Friday, the day the House adjourned for the summer recess. What happened to the "new way of doing business" in Ottawa, to the promise of transparency to enable taxpayers to know how their money is being spent? If MPs really did need another $4,000 to get by on, they should have made the case to their employers — the taxpayers — and had the courage to defend that request, instead of doing a deal in secret, and keeping it under wraps until they could run away and hide for the summer. Shame on the Conservatives. Shame on the Liberals. Shame on the Bloc Québécois. And shame on the New Democrats.

Mind you, it could be worse:

Gold rings customized for Newfoundland politicians were among $2.7-million worth of baubles and trinkets apparently purchased with misappropriated public funds, the province’s auditor general said Tuesday in a scathing report that added fuel to a growing spending scandal. John Noseworthy, who last week issued an audit of constituency allowances that led to the resignation of a cabinet minister, also accused the legislature’s financial operations director of breach of trust and conflict of interest. The stunning allegations follow a decision by Premier Danny Williams to reverse an order that prevented the auditor general from examining the finances of the house of assembly between 2000 and 2004. Noseworthy’s findings have revealed that spending controls in the legislature were virtually non-existent until last year.

Adscam goes to Newfoundland! More here and here and here. All I can say is, thank God for equalization. Otherwise Newfoundland politicans would have to pay for their customized gold rings out of their own pockets.