3 days ago
Lorne Gunter: UCP receipt policy a blow to government transparency
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On August 18, 2021, Aderoju Alao paid $154.54 — including a tourism levy, the GST and a destination marketing fee — for one night's stay at the Four Points Hotel in Grande Prairie. At the time, Alao was a ministerial assistant to then-advanced education minister Demetrios Nicolaides and she was accompanying the minister on a tour of the region's post-secondary schools.
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On April 12 last year, Sarah Amiry, a ministerial chief of staff, paid WestJet $1,183.26 for return airfare so she could accompany her minister to a conference of provincial ministers in Gatineau, Quebec later that month.
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On May 24, Sam Blackett, who is currently Premier Danielle Smith's press secretary but was then Demetrios's media flack, spent $146.74 on a one-day rental of a Hyundai Elantra to ferry the minister around Red Deer.
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In 2023, then-deputy minister of finance Katherine White paid $926.23 for accommodation at a summit of finance ministers, but — oops — no receipt.
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The list goes on and on (and on) like this for nearly 108,000 entries.
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But no more. Earlier this month, the province removed the requirement that receipts be posted for expenses, even the big ones.
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I'm not sure exactly how many people took the time to wade through over 10,000 pages of itemized expense reports. I'm sure the vast majority of entries were never seen by human eyes (outside of government accounting departments).
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I know the odd reporter who would consult the list after a big trip by the premier or a minister to see whether there was anything juicy to report.
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And the Canadian Taxpayers Federation frequently checked the reports to make sure tax money wasn't being wasted.
