Green MP Elizabeth May released hundreds of pages of scanned receipts Wednesday in the latest — and most transparent — reveal of political expenses in Canada.
May, MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands, posted 327 pages of scanned receipts and invoices to her website, outlining $23,684.82 in office and personal expenses in 2012-13.
It’s the third time May has released all of her expense claims, and she said she’s the only MP to provide such an itemized list of receipts to taxpayers.
“If we’re asking for taxpayer reimbursement, my view is you can’t have too much transparency,” May said.
May said she has tried to be frugal. She claimed $1,500 a month for rent in an Ottawa apartment, but did not charge for phone, Internet, cable or other utilities, even though she’s entitled to do so.
May said she only claimed $834.96 in travel within her riding, which amounts to one per cent of what is allowed. She pays most of it personally.
Her per diem costs were $4,249.86 for meals and expenses while Parliament was in session. MPs can claim up to $11,000.
MPs’ travel costs from Ottawa are booked through a parliamentary travel officer and use a point system, but May said she insisted on flying economy. On some Ottawa-Vancouver flights, she said, she would be in economy class while several other B.C. MPs sat in first class.
“Rarely do I ever see any other MPs in economy,” she said.
May’s receipts also cover newspaper advertising, cleaning bills for her constituency office, room rentals and computer fees.
Other MPs post information about expenses on a central Parliament of Canada website, but not receipts.
MP expense transparency has been in the public spotlight as Parliament adjourned this week for summer break.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau attempted to put forward a motion to open up MP expenses to more scrutiny, but it was scuttled by the Opposition NDP. The NDP then received support for its own motion to examine creating an independent body to oversee House of Commons spending and MP expenses.
May said she hopes other politicians to follow her lead. She said she knows of MPs who want to publish more information about expenses but would face party discipline if they did so.
The office of Randall Garrison, the NDP MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, said he is awaiting the recommendations of the MP expense committee later this year to ensure all expense reports are disclosed in a fair manner.
Victoria NDP MP Murray Rankin said he intends to publish his expense information on his website once new disclosure rules from the NDP motion are clarified. “I used to be a freedom-of-information junkie,” said Rankin, who as a lawyer helped draft B.C.’s FOI law in 1992. “I firmly believe in this kind of disclosure and accountability.”
> On the web: elizabethmaymp.ca/expenses-2012
