The board, dominated by majority government MPs, including Speaker Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Apelle, Sask.), who heads the board, last week tabled the minutes for 13 of its closed-door meetings, going back to Nov. 21, 2011, at one time, the day before the House recessed for its three-month summer break on June 21.
The minutes, which covered a range of key decisions including approval of the House of Commons spending estimates for 2012-2013 and a series of sessions over allegations that former Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe broke House rules by paying a party official in Montreal from his Parliamentary office budget, are the only glimpse which even MPs get into the secret deliberations that affect a sweeping range of ways in which Parliamentarians spend public money and interact with electors.
Several years ago, following persistent complaints and news articles about the board’s secretive nature and its practice of releasing board minutes at the end of each session of Parliament, the board established a practice of tabling the minutes roughly a month after each of its meetings, subject to extension due to the summer and winter recess.
The skimpy minutes tabled last week, brief descriptions on matters that include lawsuits against MPs, workplace complaints, changes to Commons bylaws and travel expenses, included a November decision to add $6-million of government money into two highly-subsidized pension plan accounts and a further $2.6-million to “offset the increase in travel costs related to Travel Points System—the Parliamentary term for a generous travel scheme that gives MPs and Senators up to 64 free airline trips annually, including a portion for spouses, designated travellers and dependants.
Two MPs who are designated spokespersons for the board, NDP Whip Nycole Turmel (Hull Aylmer, Que.) and Chief Government Whip Gordon O’Connor (Carleton-Mississippi Mills, Ont.), could not be reached for questions about the change in board tabling practice.
An NDP spokesman referred The Hill Times to Mr. O’Connor, saying he was the board’s designated English-language spokesman, and Mr. O’Connor’s office said he could not be reached because his BlackBerry was malfunctioning.
But Thomas Gregory, the national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the change in tabling practice for the board minutes, as well as the skimpy nature of the minutes themselves, are an indication that public transparency in Parliament has eroded over the past several years.
Mr. Gregory said he believes the minutes should be tabled regularly, despite the thin gruel it offers about the secret deliberations for the public as well as MPs.
“It reminds me in Conrad Black’s memoir before the troubles started, they would have a heated two-hour discussion about something, and the corporate minutes would say ‘general discussion ensued,’ ” Mr. Thomas said.
“I think the progress we’ve made in getting Parliamentarians to come clean with taxpayers over the management of Parliament has quietly eroded, and this is the latest example,” he said.
Mr. Gregory added that even public scrutiny over government’s wider spending plans get short shrift in Parliament: “The estimates get just cursory overview from the committees that are tasked with reviewing them. In the U.S., the legislature is truly independent from the executive, whereas in Canada MPs take their orders from the centre.”
Auditor General Michael Ferguson recently emphasized the importance of House of Commons transparency in a report that found the Commons failed to enforce its own policies in $60-million worth of procurement for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The Commons failed to meet all of its own procurement policies in 41 of 59 contracts.
“This result points to a widespread lack of compliance with the set of procedures that are designed to support fairness and transparency, achieve best value, and manage risks,” Mr. Ferguson said. “These weaknesses resulted in errors ranging from missing documents to more serious issues such as awarding a contract to a bidder that clearly did not meet one of the mandatory requirements.
“The House of Commons is the keystone of Canadian democracy and is funded with public money,” he said in his report.
“Canadians expect their public institutions to be well managed and accountable for the safeguarding of public assets and the use of public funds. This makes it important that the expenditures of the House and its Administration withstand public scrutiny and that appropriate policies and practices are in place to ensure fairness, consistency, and transparency. Transparency and accountability help to support the House’s credibility and its reputation,” Mr. Ferguson said.
One of the large expenses dealt with in the delayed board minutes included a Nov. 28, 2011, approval of $3.3-million in spending for an international Parliamentary assembly in Québec City, more money for elector newsletters, and an increase in pay for House pages.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Tim Naumetz
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