SENATE AUDIT

Scathing report renews calls for probe into MPs’ spending.

OTTAWA • The scathing audit of senators’ expenses that is to be formally made public on Tuesday has renewed calls from some for a similar investigation of spending by members of Parliament.

“An audit on the House of Commons side is needed,” said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. “I think it would have a very salutary effect for the future to make sure MPs are as careful as I try to be to make sure that every penny is accounted for and that no pennies are spent unnecessarily.”

Then-auditor general Sheila Fraser first raised the idea of examining MPs’ books in 2010, sparking a strong backlash from parliamentarians before the powerful Board of Internal Economy, which is responsible for House of Commons spending, rejected the idea outright.

The all-party board said at the time that the proposed audit was outside the auditor general’s mandate, “which allows her to audit government departments and various Crown agencies as identified in the Act, but does not include the legislative branch.”

But Duff Conacher of watchdog group Democracy Watch rebutted that argument, saying the auditor general was allowed to investigate any and all federal institutions that draw money from the federal treasury — including the House of Commons and Senate.

The auditor general doesn’t actually have to wait for an invitation before asking to see MPs’ books, Conacher said. He blasted what has become a standard process whereby the auditor general asks permission or otherwise gives institutions a heads-up before launching an investigation.

Both May and Conacher said they would like to see the auditor general examine MPs’ spending over the past several years. May acknowledged it would be an expensive process — the Senate audit cost $21 million — but she said it was important for establishing a standard for the future.

NDP House leader Peter Julian said his party supports enlisting the auditor general to audit MPs’ spending to put in place “a much saner, open process around expenditures around the House of Commons.”

The NDP has come under fire after some of its MPs used parts of their office budgets to pay for House of Commons staff in party offices in Montreal and Quebec City. The Board of Internal Economy ruled the MPs had broken spending rules and ordered that they repay $2.7 million. The NDP has challenged the board in court.

Julian said he was confident that the auditor general would have found the NDP abided by all rules related to the socalled satellite offices, and would have given the party’s MPs a clean bill of health.

“I think looking forward, you always get good advice from

Most people don’t know what we do

the auditor general on how to proceed, and we believe the issue of transparency around expenditures is extremely important,” Julian said.

But the government isn’t saying whether it supports the auditor general looking at MPs’ books. Chief government whip John Duncan’s office simply noted in a statement that MPs have started publishing details of their expenses online.

Liberal MP David McGuinty also said there has been progress around MPs’ spending since he was first elected in 2004, with more transparency and tighter rules. At the same time, he worried the auditor general’s office wouldn’t have a true understanding of how MPs do their work.

“I remember having a conversation with the last auditor general about this issue, and what I said was, ‘If you want to get a better idea of what an MP does, it would be really important for you and your staff to go spend, say, three days in a working MP’s Hill and constituency office,’ ” he said.

“Now, she was insulted at the time, but she doesn’t know. And most people don’t know what we do.”