NDP fumes at cost of getting Moe’s expenses

The bill for 1,000 pages of Premier Scott Moe’s expense records could run up to $1,690, according to a fee estimate the NDP is calling “outrageous.”

But the government shot back with its own accusations about past NDP spending and accused the Opposition of playing “fast and loose with the facts.”

On Wednesday, the NDP shared a response to a freedom of information request its staff submitted to executive council in January.

The party requested “receipts and/or documentation for all the Premier’s expenses since January 1, 2019.”

The government responded with an estimate that pegged the total number of pages covered by the request at 1,000. The cost was calculated at 15 cents per page of photocopying and a total of $1,500 for 50 hours’ staff time for search, retrieval and preparation.

The NDP would have to pay half the estimate as a deposit for officials to begin work on the request.

In a statement, the NDP’S critic for ethics and democracy David Forbes called the estimate “shocking and wrong.

“Premier and minister’s expenses should be fully public, full stop,” he added.

Forbes later told the Leader-post the NDP made the request to push for more transparency, especially given a recent increase in ministerial travel expenses.

The NDP statement argued Saskatchewan provides the least information on government expenses of any province. Forbes noted that accessing receipts would be free in other provinces. He said Saskatchewan should be leading the way, rather than trailing.

“We should be at the top,” said Forbes.

In a statement, Moe’s press secretary cast the NDP accusations as misleading.

Jim Billington said Saskatchewan “consistently reports out of province travel and total ministerial travel expenses similar to other Canadian provinces.”

But there are important areas where Saskatchewan does lag behind some of its neighbours. Alberta, for instance, routinely posts receipts for ministerial and staff expenses inside and outside the province. The documents are accessible for free online. British Columbia posts monthly reports of ministerial travel expenses that include copies of airline tickets and hotel bills.

Saskatchewan, by contrast, posts reports twice every year detailing travel expenses for ministers. The costs are broken down by trip and subdivided into categories for air travel, meals and accommodation.

But the reports do not include receipts and do not detail individual expenses; nor do they cover expenses for ministerial travel inside Saskatchewan.

Billington pointed out that annual travel expenses for each minister are listed in Saskatchewan’s public accounts, which also includes communications, furniture and supply expenses for each MLA.

But Forbes noted that public accounts provide no detailed breakdown of expenses, but only totals for each minister. He said a system of routine disclosure of receipts, as in Alberta, would make ministers think twice before charging unreasonable expenses.

He pointed to the example of former Saskatchewan Party minister June Draude, who charged more than $3,600 for four days of car service during a trip to London. That only came to light in 2014 through an NDP freedom of information request. Draude later repaid the money.

Disappointing that the NDP would twist the words and intentions of hard working civil servants.

Forbes argued that greater transparency would be good for taxpayers, since ministers would ask themselves “what would we feel like if we saw this on the front page of the paper?”

As for the hefty fee estimate charged to the NDP for its request, Billington noted the premier’s office has no involvement with the freedom of information process.

But he said that the NDP request would involve searching for the annual travel and daily business expenses for the premier’s office, and not only his travel expenses.

“This would involve a search (of ) an entire organizational unit, leading to a fee estimate to identify the relevant records,” Billington added. “It is disappointing that the NDP would twist the words and intentions of hard working civil servants in this way for such a petty political reason.”

The NDP criticized Moe for spending more than former premier Brad Wall during his last full year in office. Moe’s travel expenses for 2018-19 fiscal year were $84,868, according to public accounts. Wall spent $45,628 in 2016-17.

Overall, Saskatchewan ministers reported about $147,000 in expenses over the six months ending Sept. 30, 2019, the last period for which figures are available.

Moe was on five of those trips, with total expenses of $51,125, though the reports also include expenses for other ministers and staff that accompanied him. Adding on the six months previous, Moe’s trips involved total expenses of $139,424. That included missions to China and India with numerous staff.

The government countered that the NDP also spent hefty sums while in office. According to Billington, travel expenses are down by 53 per cent relative to the last year of the NDP government in 2006-07.

He also noted that the previous NDP government had no public disclosure of out-of-province travel expenses.

“It’s convenient that the NDP has soundly ignored or forgotten the entitlement and secrecy their own previous NDP government embodied,” Billington wrote.

But Forbes countered again by saying that he hopes the NDP would never have charged such a high fee for access to its records.

He said the NDP is currently discussing whether it will pay the $1,690 estimate. In the meantime, he hopes the government reconsiders and opts for transparency.

“This is outrageous and we really hope they step up when the ministers read about this in the paper,” he said.