Some companies spend a lot of money researching their competitors in order to copy their best ideas. This practice is viewed as necessary in order to stay relevant and solvent.

Unfortunately, we don’t see enough of this when it comes to our governments. When one government comes up with a good idea, others should be rushing to copy it.

But recently we have seen this happen in Ottawa, where a backbench Member of Parliament is trying to get a popular piece of Nova Scotia legislation adopted nationally. Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan government should be watching closely and looking to do the same thing.

If passed, Bill C-518, the Protecting Taxpayers and Revoking Pensions of Convicted Politicians Act, would strip federal politicians of their golden pensions if they are caught stealing or committing serious crimes while in office.

To be clear, the proposed bill won’t penalize MPs or senators if they’re caught for something trivial, such as public intoxication or littering. The bill is structured so that only serious crimes would result in politicians being stripped of their pensions – such things as fraud. And even then, the politician would get back what he or she put into the pension plan, with interest. What would be lost is the portion of benefits paid by the government – in other words, by taxpayers.

Given some of the shenanigans in the Senate, the bill just makes sense. It’ll send a strong signal to anyone running for federal office, or appointed to the Senate, that abusing the public’s trust – illegally – is just not acceptable and will result in serious penalties.

MP John Williamson, a former federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), tabled Bill C-518. He indicated that one of the inspirations for the bill was former Liberal Senator Raymond Lavigne. In 2011, Lavigne was convicted of expense account fraud and of using his government staff to do personal errands.

Many readers can think of a good reason why the bill would make sense in Saskatchewan. Those of a certain age will remember the scandal that involved members of the Grant Devine government.

For those who need a refresher, back in the 1990s an expense scandal rocked Saskatchewan and made headlines nation-wide – and for good reason. A dozen MLAs were arrested and charged with fraud for funneling tax dollars into a fake company that paid them kickbacks. Others were caught expensing ridiculous things such as horse saddles with their names on them.

To be clear, there have been some pretty absurd expenses involving provincial politicians in the news lately in Saskatchewan. For a politician to drive around in a car service in London for four days straight and not think to ask how much it costs is hard to swallow.

However, the CTF isn’t aware of anything illegal involving provincial politicians as of late. But why wait for something illegal to happen again? Why not be proactive and send a clear message to all provincial politicians that such behaviour will not tolerated?

In fact, Saskatchewan wouldn’t be the first province to pass such a bill; Nova Scotia’s former NDP government has already passed similar legislation. On that note, if the Wall government decides not to copy what Ottawa is doing and Nova Scotia has done, there’s nothing stopping Saskatchewan’s opposition NDP from tabling such a bill.

One thing is clear: nobody wants their politicians to steal . . . unless they’re stealing good ideas from other governments. That’s the kind of theft we can all get behind.