The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is urging the Alberta government to reverse its recent decision to stop proactively posting expense receipts online — a longstanding practice that has helped ensure transparency and accountability for public spending. On Aug. 1, the provincial government quietly scrapped the policy requiring politicians and senior officials to provide itemized receipts for any expenses over $100, which were then made publicly available on the government’s website. Now, citizens and journalists will have to submit Freedom of Information requests to access these records, a move that reduces transparency. “Why would the Alberta government want to be less transparent with taxpayers — this is totally baffling,” said Kris Sims, CTF Alberta Director. “This makes it look like the Alberta government has some expenses to hide from taxpayers, the people who are paying the bills.” .CTF says feds need to ‘wake up’ to burden on taxpayers from carbon tax.Sims explained to the Western Standard how she discovered the policy change after attempting to contact the government media line, initially receiving no response.“I found the documents myself and yes, they just deleted the requirement to have a receipt, inexplicably. After hours, the government communications person finally said it was for ‘safety’ reasons, which does not fly,” Sims said.“If there are privacy concerns, that information can easily be redacted. What matters is the itemization — we want to know if they’re renting a Corolla or a Corvette, on the taxpayer’s dime, not the address of the rental outlet.”The CTF director emphasized Alberta’s proud history of transparency and grassroots democracy mechanisms, including recall legislation, referendums, and taxpayer protection acts, calling this policy reversal “totally out of step” with the province’s values.“Albertans want full transparency,” she stated. “We want Alberta to be the leader in the whole country for transparency.”.CTF slams federal government for $54 billion in debt interest costs .Sims went on to question why this change happened in the middle of summer, on a Friday right before a long weekend.“My hunch is the premier was away and junior staffers made the decision without proper consultation,” Sims revealed.“I think they’re going to reverse this quickly. Some folks in government are unhappy with this, and I understand it’s being reviewed by cabinet next week. If I were a betting person, I’d say we’ll see a reversal soon.”In a statement to the Western Standard, the office of the Alberta Treasury Board and Finance said that the purpose of the directive was to, "ensure the privacy and safety of elected officials and staff specifically as it relates to the physical location of their accommodations while traveling."The statement went on to say the directive "still requires that receipts for reimbursement are submitted to and approved by department officials, and can still be accessed by Albertans through the regular freedom of information act process. The details of expenses continue to be publicly disclosed and are required to comply with the government’s expense policies, which have not changed."The Treasury Board said the "directive will be further reviewed by Cabinet in the near future to ensure the right balance between security, privacy and transparency are achieved."
