Northwest Territories MP Dennis Bevington has defended his fellow New Democrats in a row over expenses for satellite offices.
On Tuesday, the House of Commons’ Board of Internal Economy ordered 68 of the NDP’s MPs to repay a total of more than $2.7 million in expenses relating to their smaller offices outside Ottawa.
The board says those MPs made ‘inappropriate’ use of parliamentary funds to help run some offices.
However, Bevington – in keeping with NDP leader Tom Mulcair – says the board is an example of political bias and too secretive to be trusted.
“We’ve asked that this be turned into a more public body,” Bevington – who is not affected by the decision – told Moose FM.
“That would give some sense of proper behaviour within it. The government and the Liberals have refused to do that. This is the way adversarial politics has degenerated in Ottawa over my time here.
“We followed the rules and if you can’t give us an honest answer in this secretive board of internal economy, we’ll take it to the public courts.”
