Alberta Government Rolls Back Controversial Changes to Expense Disclosure Policy

Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner speaks to the media at a news conference in Calgary on June 29, 2023. The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh

The Alberta government is reversing changes it made earlier this month to its expense disclosure policy for senior officials after concerns emerged about reduced transparency.

The finance minister’s office says cabinet met on Aug. 19 and decided to revert to the previous version of the public disclosure policy for travel and expenses, while also addressing the concerns that led to the initial changes.

The province on Aug. 1 had posted an updated version of the policy that removed the requirement for the premier, ministers, associate ministers, and their political staff to post receipts for reimbursed expenses over $100, with the finance minister’s office saying the change was to protect officials’ safety, given concerns about publicly disclosing the names of hotels they typically stay at.

The government says it will now focus on ensuring that accommodation addresses are redacted on receipts posted online.

“Cabinet recognized the importance of an expense posting policy that achieves both security and transparency,” Marisa Breeze, press secretary for the minister of Treasury Board and finance, told The Epoch Times in an Aug. 20 statement.

“Cabinet has therefore directed the President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance to request Treasury Board immediately revert to the previous expense posting policy expecting that address information for accommodations will be redacted on receipts posted online to ensure security of elected members and staff.”

Cabinet’s decision comes after Premier Danielle Smith said last week she would review the policy shift and reverse it, noting it had deviated from its original intent of protecting officials’ privacy.

“That was what the policy was supposed to be–it turned out to be something quite different,” she said at an Aug. 14 Alberta Next town hall in Edmonton after one of the attendees inquired about the policy changes, raising questions about transparency.

“So we’re going to see if we can maybe try to track down how that happened and do a reversal on that.”

The Alberta Opposition NDP had criticized the policy changes as a reduction of accountability and had called for the reversal of the policy.

“Albertans expect and demand to see receipts whenever the Premier, her cabinet, or senior staff make expense claims that are reimbursed by public funds,” NDP House Leader Christina Gray said in an Aug. 15 social media post.

“The only reason they did it was to hide the receipts from Albertans, who pay the bills. It’s entitled and it’s the exact opposite of being open and transparent.”

Another policy change introduced on Aug. 1 included the adoption of a five-year requirement for expense reports to remain online, while the previous policy version did not specify a time frame.

As of publication time, records still date back to 2020, although the public disclosure policy has been in place since 2012. The minister’s office told The Epoch Times it plans to repost the information that was removed after the policy changes took effect.