Conservatives Chair Closed Door Meeting on Transparency of Government Expenses
A closed door meeting was held to discuss greater transparency regarding the expenses of Canadian MPs.
The Conservative-chaired meeting was made public, yielding to the pressure of the New Democrats. Nathan Cullen found it ironic that the Conservatives had held a meeting on such an issue. The NDP House Leader said that the meeting was about accountability. He was talking to Ottawa journalists when he expressed that the closed-door meeting did not truly represent Parliament's commitment to transparency.
Mr Cullen further added that the New Democrats aimed to initiate a system which every MP would be applicable to. An independent body would be asked to oversee every MP's expenses consistently, he said. NDP is in favour of a motion which asks the House of Commons Procedure and House Affairs Committee to hold hearings on the process of replacing the Board of Internal Economy. It aims to boost the supervision of the salaries, office budgets and expenses of each MP.
Mr Cullen said that the system meant that the MPs would not be responsible for supervising themselves on their own. Self-supervision is a practice that must be disposed of on an immediate effect. On the other hand, the Liberal Party has announced that it will voluntarily post the hospitality and travel expense of every MP and senator online. The online posts will start on Sept18, 2013.
Justin Trudeau was speaking to CTV when he said that the party was doing so in order to set the standard for other parties as well. Mr Trudeau was responsible for introducing 4 motions to force MPs to reveal their expenses online. The motions were introduced in June to let the public analyse how the elected officials use the taxpayers' money.
Meanwhile, the closed door meeting was held by calling Liberals, Conservatives and NDP back concisely to discuss the transparency of the expenses. Mr Cullen, however, proposed that meeting should be held openly.