New bill introduced by Provincial Government
Posted Mar 19, 2013 1:02 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Canadian Taxpayers Association is slamming the province for a new bill introduced along with the recent budget.
The group say’s Bill 12 will be a big blow to government transparency, as it repeals the Fiscal Responsibility Act and Government Accountability Act.
“They’re going to change the law, their going to be gutting 18 areas of the the Fiscal Responsibility Act and Government Accountability Act to be able to do this,” CTF’S Alberta Director Derek Fildebrandt explains.
Bill 12 means the government will no longer be legally required to provide a list of it’s revenue sources by category expenses by category, reports on borrowing requirements or even consolidated net revenues and expenses.
“They can budget really on the back of a napkin because so little information is required. Its going to mean our budget, and our reporting on budgets are going to be so inadequate that the government can really do pretty much anything it wants. ” says Fildebrandt.
He explains Alberta has always had the best budget accountability in the country, but this new bill could take Alberta from the best, to possibly the worst.
“Alberta’s budgets were the easiest to understand, Albertans could pick them up and really figure out exactly how Alberta’s government was raising money and spending money,” Fildebrandt continues.
Fildebrandt says Bill 12 will leave the government to really do whatever they want, and leaves the question why are they trying to hide the information.
