Quarterly out-of-province travel expenses for 2007-08 for the premier and cabinet ministers are now available online.

 

The information for 2007-08 includes the premier’s out-of-province travel expenses, which total $34,705.73, a comparable amount to previous years. Starting in 2008-09, the current fiscal year, ministerial out-of-province travel details will be posted after the end of each quarter. The information will be available via a link on each department’s home page in a format similar to the one used by federal members of cabinet.

 

“This is part of ongoing efforts to increase access to information and modernize government. We began posting annual ministerial expenses in 2006-07 and this is a natural extension of that,” said Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport Minister Eric Robinson.

 

Today’s announcement complements the recent introduction of legislative amendments that would modernize Manitoba’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act (FIPPA), added Robinson, whose department administers the act.

 

The proposed amendments to FIPPA would create the role of an adjudicator to resolve access and privacy issues, as well as enshrine in law the regular disclosure of ministerial expenses, something the provincial government already does in practice.

 

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