In the wake of the scandal at the BC Legislature, two-thirds of residents polled want to be able to scrutinize all Legislature Expenses.
That’s according to a new poll of 800 adults by Research Company.
President Mario Canseco was speaking on NL Newsday, and he highlighted an issue with the way things are currently done.
“You can essentially have a bunch of documents in a specific place and then people have to find them going through many, many hoops,” he said. “It’s not just having a single repository for every document and every expense, it’s making the whole process as convenient and stress-free as possible.”
Canseco also added that 57 per cent of BC residents polled agree with the way Speaker Darren Plecas handled the entire situation. 21 per cent disagreed and 22 per cent said they were not sure.
In addition, three-quarters of respondents want all questionable spending in the Plecas report to be repaid.
“This is one of those issues that have a lot of people scratching their heads,” added Canseco. “They don’t want a scenario where this is going to end up with something that said ‘this is the way it used to be done before.'”
“The fact that some of these expenses have been questioned by the speaker is making residents say ‘when all of this is said and done, you need to repay the taxpayer.'”
Three-in-five respondents – or 59 per cent – also want an outside entity to review and oversee all future Legislative expenses.
Further, 70 per cent of them also want the Legislative Assembly to comply with Freedom of Information regulations.
And when asked who is more responsible for the situation, 59 per cent of British Columbians point the finger at the previous BC Liberal government, while 29 per cent are blaming the current BC NDP government.