OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) welcomed improvements to MP expense disclosure announced today by the Commons Board of Internal Economy.

MPs’ expense claims will now be reported quarterly on the Commons website. There will be additional line items in the reports detailing spending for service contracts, MPs’ accommodation expenses, as well as hospitality spending on events, gifts and meetings.

Travel expenses (except trips to and from MPs ridings) will now require the name of the traveller, the destination, the travel dates, the total cost, and the purpose of the trip.

Receipts for these expenses, however, are not required to be disclosed.

“Our politicians all preach the values of openness and transparency but refuse to practice these principles when it comes to their own expenses,” said CTF Federal Director Gregory Thomas. “These reforms are a step in the right direction, but there’s no excuse in 2013 for MPs not to provide receipts and contracts fully documenting their spending.”

“MPs have gotten a free pass lately thanks to Senators like Mike Duffy and Mac Harb, but let’s not forget that the same rules that have given us the Senate expenses scandal also govern MPs’ expenses,” Thomas added.

The CTF has been a leading proponent of greater accountability rules for federal politicians, in June calling for an Accountability Act 2.0, which would see mandatory online reporting of office, travel and hospitality expenses for all politicians (including receipts), random audits of MPs and Senators by the Auditor General, applying the Access to Information (ATI) Act to MPs and Senators, scrapping pension entitlements for those convicted of stealing from taxpayers and the ability to recall parliamentarians.

“Canadians are tired of politicians hiding their expenses, giving contracts to their friends and collecting pensions from behind bars, all because they live by a different set of rules than the rest of us,” continued Thomas.  “We will continue to drag MPs, kicking and screaming, it seems, to the same level of expense accountability that is now routine in places like Toronto City Hall and the Alberta legislature.”