It’s great to hear the Wall government is going to improve the disclosure of cabinet ministers’ out-of-province travel expenses.

According to a government news release issued on April 7, 2014, the government will start posting ‘reports’ as to expenses related to a minister’s out-of-province travel (including bills put through by staff who accompany the minister).

This is a step in the right direction, but here is where it falls short:

1) What about other bills expensed by cabinet ministers? Say, if they attended a meeting in Regina or Saskatoon? Or what if they just gorged on lunches all the time and expensed it to the government? Alternatively, if Bev Oda worked for the Wall government and expensed an air purifier, well it wouldn't get disclosed unless someone knew what to ask for.

2) What about the receipts? The Alberta government and City of Toronto currently scan each receipt and put it online. This is the gold standard of disclosure. If the Wall government is going to update its disclosure rules, why not copy what the best are doing?

3) What about MLA expenses and caucus budgets? As I noted in this column, the only way a taxpayer can view a receipt expensed by an MLA (rather than one expensed through a cabinet minister’s budget) is if the MLA allows the taxpayer to see it. There’s no disclosure over caucus budgets either. The government needs to extend the Freedom of Information Act to include the Legislative Assembly and those budgets.

In conclusion, the Wall government has taken a good step in the right direction by disclosing cabinet ministers' out-of-province travel costs, but it has fallen short of what other leaders in Canada are doing in this area.