14 December 2007

Under his thumb

The provincial government released expense reimbursement guidelines for cabinet ministers, as part of an effort to show some transparency in matters related to allowances and expenses.

Two quick points:

1.  The rules are generally similar to those that have existed at least back to 1989.  There isn't any radical change here, except, that is, with respect to the second point.

2.  Count the number of times that members of the Executive Council have to seek the approval of the premier's chief of staff before doing anything.  This creates the entirely unacceptable situation of having members of cabinet effectively under the control of a political staffer.

The approval authority for these cases should rest with the premier or by the president of the executive council.

-srbp-