Several Nova Scotia politicians have stepped forward to put their names to
the “inappropriate” purchases highlighted in the auditor general's annual
report, released Wednesday.
But the admissions only seem to be fuelling the anger of many in the
province who see the the spending as a sign of an out-of-touch government.
Auditor general Jacques Lapointe said he wrestled with the decision of
whether to name individuals in his report, but said he ultimately withheld
names to keep the focus on fixing the system.
It didn't take long for the politicians to admit to their spending.
By mid-Wednesday, the Tory MLA who used the provincial purse to purchase a
$7,995 generator to be installed at his home, as highlighted in the report,
issued a news release to explain he bought it for a local search-and-rescue
group and other local organizations that may need it.
House Speaker Charlie Parker said he would pay back the $790 for a replica
of a ship he bought for his office, and several others made similar
statements.
Four former Tory MLAs are among those also on the list, but PC Leader Karen
Casey said Thursday that he won't name them.
Many Nova Scotians have vented online.
Posters at the Halifax Chronicle-Herald's site pointed out the timing of the
report's findings, just as the Darrell Dexter government is considering a 2%
hike in the provincial sales tax.
“This ... is only scrapping the surface of government waste. Then you want
us to pay more?” wrote one reader.
The newspaper ripped into the government in an editorial published Thursday
morning.
“Unless the government stops such abuses, and until it reforms the rat’s
nest of overlapping, double-dipping, no-receipts allowances, not a penny of
new tax should be levied on Nova Scotians,” reads the editorial.
Lapointe’s findings are similar to those made by his counterpart in
Newfoundland and Labrador after that province’s spending scandal erupted in
2006. That has since led to four ex-politicians and a former bureaucrat
being convicted of fraud-related charges.
But Lapointe said the purchases he detailed in the report were only to show
the need for better control and accountability in the system, and that none
required police intervention.
He has issued a list to the provincial house speaker detailing which
expenses he thinks politicians should repay.
