Parliamentary Ethics and Accountability

Politicians in Britain are in a world of hurt with reports of widespread abuse of Parliamentary expense accounts. Even the most unscrupulous person would gasp at the thought of expensing a country-manor heliport or moat cleaning.

The most shocking revelation was that MPs can submit their mortgage payments as accommodation expenses! No wonder they live in castles. An MP is allowed to buy a flat in London and expense all the payments. When the MP leaves office, they can sell the property and pocket all the profits.

So, are Canadian politicians any better? No seriously, are they? I don't know.

I attempted to locate the by-laws of the Board of Internal Economy, which "regulate the use of parliamentary resources that are made available to Members to perform their parliamentary functions". The only information I could find was a one-page summary on the Parliament of Canada website. This summary indicates that by-laws are a public document, but I sure can't find them. I am beginning to sense they are a buy-a-ticket-to-Ottawa-visit-the-Speaker's-Office-and-ask-to-see-the-by-laws kind of public document. (If anyone can find this document on-line, please post a link in the comments section.)

When there is a lack of transparency and accountability, it quickly leads to a culture of entitlement. Canadian politicians should take some (hopefully) pre-emptive steps to avoid a Canadian version of this British scandal. Publishing the by-laws of the Board of Internal Economy and more details on MP expense claims would be a good start.