Cariboo North independent MLA Bob Simpson is now posting copies of his travel expense claim forms on his website, a move the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is applauding.
"Transparency is the best way to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely," said CTF's B.C. director Jordan Bateman in a statement issued this week.
"Our organization has been pushing MLAs for a long time to proactively disclose their travel expenses and we are delighted that Bob Simpson has taken the lead on this. We hope his example encourages the other 84 MLAs to follow suit."
Forms dating back to Sept. 5 are now on Simpson's website. They include an itemized breakdown of weekly expenses, including flights, accommodation (when not in Victoria), taxi fares, ferry fares, parking costs, and the $61 per day living allowance.
Simpson said he decided to take the extra step of posting the forms, which he also submits to the legislative comptroller, after the legislative management committee began publishing annual totals of travel expenses and per diems for each MLA.
"Because I'm unfettered from a house leader or a whip who's part of that management committee, I decided I was going to publish mine," Simpson said.
He said the idea is to put MLAs expenses to rest by being more transparent.
"Then it becomes a moot point," Simpson said. "Then we can move onto bigger issues like are we generating enough tax revenue to pay for people's expectations of public services."
Monthly travel expenses of cabinet members like Prince George-Mackenzie MLA Pat Bell and Prince George-Mount Robson MLA Shirley Bond, are posted on the provincial government website.
Nechako-Lakes MLA John Rustad, a backbencher, posts a breakdown of his expenses for the year on his Facebook page. Asked if he would follow Simpson and post his claim forms, Rustad said he would not but rather would be willing to answer individual requests about particular items.
"If there was a particular trip where somebody asks 'why did you go to Smithers on such and such a date, what were the expenses?' and gave a compelling case as to why they would need that information, yeah, I wouldn't have a problem with providing that," Rustad said.
Rustad added that one expense Simpson did not include on his forms is for the trip to Hawaii while there was one week left in the fall sitting.
In response, Simpson said it was a gift from his in-laws to their family to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary and had been booked in February when it was doubtful a fall sitting would be held.
"My in-laws had to pick a week and take their chances because there were 16 people involved," Simpson said.
Had there been something important on the agenda, like back-to-work legislation for the teachers, Simpson said he would have stayed behind. As it was, the biggest item was the Family Law Act, which both parties had generally agreed to.
