The Board of Internal Economy is a committee of MPs from all parties which supervise the operations of the House of Commons and that includes oversight of the budgets for each MPs office and staff. The Board has been under pressure for the last few weeks to provide more disclosure about MPs budgets, to go beyond the summary information that is now provided, and give taxpayers a better sense of just where the money is going in each MPs office. The Board released its decision today and it's not going show any more about MPs office than it's already showing:
Following careful consideration, the Auditor General will not be invited to conduct a performance audit of the House of Commons.
According to the Auditor General’s Act, the proposed audit would go beyond the scope of the Auditor General’s mandate, which allows her to audit government departments and various Crown agencies as identified in the Act, but does not include the legislative branch, which includes the House of Commons and its Administration.
The House of Commons’ external auditors have reported to the Board that appropriate oversight practices and procedures are in place at the House. All past audits have resulted in an unqualified audit opinion, which is the optimal situation.
Examples of the control mechanisms that are in place include:
Since the 2000-2001 fiscal year, the Individual Members’ Expenditures report has been posted on the Parliament of Canada Web site.
The House of Commons’ Financial Statements and the results of an audit of those Statements by an independent accounting firm are posted on the Parliament of Canada Web site.
Under the Parliament of Canada Act, the Board of Internal Economy establishes by-laws, policies and guidelines relating to expenditures and resources. They are provided to
– Members in order to carry out their parliamentary functions.
-Implementation of the Chief Financial Officer model envisaged by the Federal Accountability Act.
– The Audit and Review Directorate of the House carries out impartial audits and reports its findings to the Board of Internal Economy and the Clerk’s Management Group.
The Board of Internal Economy is composed of Members of each party in the House of Commons, thereby further ensuring compliance by all Members of by-laws, policies, guidelines and decisions of the Board.
Lets face it this is more a matter of media outrage then regular Canadians. The media have failed to properly inform Canadians as to how Parliaments budget is managed internally and audited independently. Perhaps the righteous outrage would be tempered somewhat if we all had all the information. But then there wouldn't be the potential opportunity for a juicy story.