Sun Media: MPs unite to keep secret budget under wraps

OTTAWA — In a rare act of unity on Parliament Hill, MPs from all four political parties have now officially joined forces to ensure the details of their secret $540-million budget never see the light of day.

“Following careful consideration, the auditor general will not be invited to conduct a performance audit of the House of Commons,” read a statement from the Board of Internal Economy, the body of MPs that runs the clandestine budget for MPs and senators.

Almost a year ago Auditor General Sheila Fraser asked for permission to conduct a value-for-money audit of the House of Commons’ budget to ensure there was no misuse of public funds.

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In the U.K. a similar fight for MPs to release their expenses went unanswered until a civil servant stole the files and sold them to a national newspaper.

Those files revealed MPs were claiming housing allowances for homes they did not have or barely lived in. One MP billed taxpayers for the cleaning of the moat of his country home while many others abused the system in different ways.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/05/13/13940341.html