Gray calls for urgent policy reversals on expenses and ethics

Christina Gray, Alberta’s New Democrat House Leader, issued the following statement before the UCP cabinet begins deliberating on its new expense disclosure policy which no longer requires receipt disclosure for claimed expenses: 

“Albertans expect leadership that takes responsibility when mistakes are made. Premier Danielle Smith’s new expense disclosure rules, which took away the public’s ability to see receipts for the Premier, Cabinet, and senior staff’s larger expenditures, erodes the transparency that Albertans deserve.  

“Albertans foot the bill for government expenses. They expect receipts, not excuses. 

“Smith’s government changed their policy on a Friday before a long weekend and scrubbed eight years of receipts from the internet, while also eliminating future requirements for MLAs and ministers to disclose detailed expenses. This was wrong, and all of these changes should be reversed. 

“Instead of trying to justify this policy, Premier Smith should have apologized. But this government doesn’t take responsibility for their actions. 

“At cabinet today, the Premier should restore expense transparency and also reverse her government’s broader attacks on accountability, including its gutting of ethics disclosures and Freedom of Information laws. Albertans deserve a transparent and accountable provincial government, and under the UCP they haven’t gotten that.” 

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