It is encouraging to hear that the Senate of Canada's standing committee on internal economy, budgets and administration is opening the door to the idea of outsiders taking a second look at its spending.
Instead of the creation of an independent oversight body, all expenses claimed by each senator should be made public, ready to be marked OK/NG by Canadian citizens in an on-line approval system. The percentage of OK votes must reach a predetermined threshold within a time limit for the senator's expenses to be reimbursed.
The on-line system would have an algorithm to yellow-flag apparently excessive spendings, some of which Canadian citizens will red-flag as real anomalies such as a $16 glass of orange juice, a $3 700 limousine service, etc. Also to be explored is the use of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet apps for automatic reporting of expenses in real-time in a correct-by-construction way.
This type of directly democratic practice would represent a transformational change to the way the Senate handles its affairs, as expressed by the auditor general. The idea is consistent with the government's plan: "Government data and information should be open by default, in formats that are modern and easy to use."
Once the process is established by the Senate, the practice could be adopted by the House of Commons, and by provincial and territorial governments because it will result in lower operating cost due to inherently less bureaucracy.
