The B.C. Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is welcoming news that the Solicitor General is promising to increase transparency at the legislature.

Minister Mike Farnworth promising to open up the legislature to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and protect whistleblowers – something Kris Sims is ecstatic about.

“This will mean hopefully that officers of the legislature like the Speaker, like the Clerk, like the Sergeant at Arms, will be subject to FOI,” she said. “What that means is if we want to we can go dig through their paperwork, and their receipts, and their expenses and find out what they are doing. It is an important first step and we are really happy to hear this coming from the minister.”

But Sims says all legislature expenses still need to be posted online as MLAs do, and she still wants to see all the details of the promised changes.

“That is why I think the next step here is every single one of those MLAs, that sit on LAMC, we need to make sure that we give them a call, that we send them an email, and we tell them we expect them to support these legislative changes,” Sims added.

“We expect them to support subjecting the legislature to freedom of information and protecting whistleblowers.”

The move comes in the aftermath of a report outlining lavish spending allegations against the now suspended Clerk and Sergeant at Arms.