Great news late yesterday as the Legislative Assembly Management Committee, thanks to the tough leadership of Finance Minister Mike de Jong and years of work by the CTF and others, voted to begin posting MLA expense receipts.

One NDP MLA who isn’t terribly happy with us these days is NDP legislative accountability critic Shane Simpson. It’s clear our latest email campaign touched a nerve with Mr. Simpson, as he has been sending out cranky emails ripping the CTF for not recognizing that he posts expenses online. Um, that’s not what we were asking for, Mr. Simpson.

Our request has always been for itemized receipts – not line item totals. This is the crux of the disagreement between him and us. While the NDP post line items, they do not post receipts which provide the actual context of how our money is being spent.

Indeed, in his email, you will see he never uses the word “receipt.” Look at Mr. Simpson’s March disclosure (http://bcndpcaucus.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2014/02/Simpson_S_March_2014.pdf). Where did he fly? Was it first class? What was the purpose? What did he order? What type of hotel did he stay at? Who went with him on our dime? This is the kind of information taxpayers deserve to have access to – and it comes from posting receipts.

Mr. Simpson told the Vancouver Sun (http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Lifting+spending+secrecy/9802613/story.html) on the weekend that he had never had a taxpayer ask for receipts. Hundreds of CTF emails changed that – which was the purpose of the action update we sent out.

And this fall, MLAs will post receipts online and be accountable for the tax money they spend. Mission accomplished.

What next? Well, it seems MLA family members get $61 per day per-diems, paid for by taxpayers, when traveling with MLAs. So I guess we have our next challenge…