The Alberta government has reversed course on changes to its expense disclosure policy after a public backlash.
The decision was made at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where “cabinet recognized the importance of an expense posting policy that achieves both security and transparency,” according to a statement to CBC News from Finance Minister Nate Horner’s press secretary.
The government will “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,” said the statement.
The government’s previous policy changes, first reported by CBC News, were published without public notice on Aug. 1 and proved controversial. Key changes included the removal of a requirement that cabinet and senior staff publicly disclose receipts for expenses over $100.
The government also removed thousands of expense reports spanning eight years that were previously available on its website.
A government spokesperson told the CBC on Tuesday that the online reports would be restored.
Criticism of the policy came from well beyond the Official Opposition and usual critics of the government.
At a town hall hosted by Premier Danielle Smith in Edmonton last week, audience members criticized the changes. Smith said in response that she was confused by the policy, adding that the original intent was to address safety concerns by hiding the names of hotels used by elected lawmakers and staff.
“It turned out to be something quite different,” she said. “So we’re going to see if we can maybe track down how that happened and do a reversal on that.”
Under the previous policy, receipts and invoices were required to be redacted to protect personal information.
