ST. JOHN'S - Newfoundland and Labrador's top judge says the province needs to tighten internal spending decisions at the legislature and prohibit secret bonuses after a massive review of the legislature's accounting practices.
In a 1,300-page report by Chief Justice Derek Green released Thursday, the government is also told that it needs whistleblower legislation, among other measures.
Premier Danny Williams, who ordered the review a year ago amid the fallout of an expense account scandal that grew to $4.4 million, accepted the judge's findings.
"The system was seriously flawed. There is absolutely no doubt about that,'' Williams told a news conference.
"There are some very disconcerting statements and revelations in the report about the processes in the house of assembly, particularly in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.''
But Williams also defended members of the legislature.
"Though there had been some very, very unfortunate allegations made over the past year, and there are some very serious matters raised in the report, the vast majority of MHAs that offer themselves for service in this province are honourable.''
Williams said he intends to implement all of Green's 80 recommendations.
The spending scandal emerged when Ed Byrne resigned as natural resources minister last June amid findings by the provincial auditor general that he overspent his constituency allowance by at least $326,000.
John Noseworthy later found that Byrne had overspent $468,000 after a more thorough review. Byrne resigned from politics in January.
Since then, Noseworthy has found that five politicians from all three parties overspent their constituency allowances by $1.6 million between 1997 and 2006.
Former NDP member Randy Collins, who Noseworthy says overspent his constituency allowance by more than $350,000, quit politics in February. Former Conservative member Kathy Goudie, found to have double-billed the legislature by $3,800, resigned in January.
Noseworthy also discovered that another $2.7 million in public funds may have been misappropriated to buy trinkets, including gold rings, fridge magnets, pins and key chains.
Noseworthy is now trying to determine the amount of inappropriate spending since the inception of constituency allowances in 1989.
Police have been called in to investigate Noseworthy's findings.
