Alice Wong, MP

The Board of Internal Economy released today an announcement concerning the Auditor General and the expenses of House of Commons Members of Parliament.

The following is a release from the Board of Internal Economy Spokespeople Jay Hill and Marcel Proulx:

The Board of Internal Economy met yesterday with Ms. Sheila Fraser, the Auditor General of Canada, to address and clarify some of the concerns and issues raised in recent weeks by Board members, Members of Parliament, and the media concerning her request to audit the House of Commons Administration.

Having considered the key points raised in that meeting, as well as the assurances provided by the Auditor General as to the process her Office would follow in doing the audit, the Board has decided to invite the Auditor General to undertake an audit of the House Administration and to grant her access to the House of Commons and its records.

As always, the Board is receptive to the concerns expressed by Canadians on any issues connected to the proper management of their tax dollars. In fact, stringent rules and transparency to ensure financial oversight in the House of Commons has always been the Board’s priority.

An audit by an independent accounting firm is conducted annually and these audits, as well as House of Commons financial statements, are posted on the Parliamentary website. Individual members’ expenditures are also available to the public on this site.

The limits on allowances and expenses that any MP is permitted to incur are very specific and clearly itemized, and public servants within the House of Commons Financial Services section strictly enforce these rules and diligently verify that MPs’ expenses are compliant.

While we remain confident that these rules are robust, we have decided to take this extra step of inviting the Auditor General to conduct an audit.

The Board noted that the audit would examine key systems and practices of the House Administration to assess whether adequate rules are in place and if these rules are properly adhered to. In auditing financial management practices of the House Administration, the Auditor General explained that her office would be developing a statistical sampling representative of the entire population of MPs.

We appreciate this approach since we too believe that any sampling of Members must be representative of overall political affiliation in the House as well as of urban and rural constituencies where demands on Members often differ substantially.

The Board of Internal Economy has pledged that the Administration of the House would offer its full cooperation to the Office of the Auditor General, ensuring open communication and effective coordination between the House and the Auditor General so that this audit can be carried out in the most efficient manner with due regard for the House procedures and protocols.

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