Government accountability key to early P.E.I. campaign

The P.E.I. Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats unveiled more of their plans to make government more open and accountable Wednesday, and all the parties are jumping on the accountability bandwagon.

In the lead-up and through the opening days of the campaign, accountability has been the number one issue all parties are trying to address.

PC Leader Rob Lantz unveiled the party's accountability platform Wednesday, pledging to freeze MLA salaries until the budget is balanced, take away cabinet ministers' government vehicles as well as their credit cards, making them submit expenses after the fact instead.

"The process that's in place right now is simply something whereby it's a blank cheque, practically," said Lantz.

"I don't think anything was scrutinized well. Everything was approved, probably, that shouldn't have been."

NDP Leader Mike Redmond was also talking about accountability, vowing to create an independent office, similar to the parliamentary budget office in Ottawa, to review government spending.

"Our effort here is to really to give governance back the people of P.E.I., to give oversight on financial affairs with government, and to have a real openness and transparency," said Redmond.

These promises have not been confined to the parties looking to take down the government. In the lead-up to the election, Liberal Leader Wade MacLauchlan announced the creation of a new ethics and integrity commissioner.

Commitments to accountability have been made by all the parties, and many of the promises have been the same.

The Tories say government accountability is what they're hearing about from Islanders on the doorstep.

"The people of Prince Edward Island are telling me that this is a major issue that they're concerned with," said Lantz.

It's a message all the candidates appear to be hearing, and whichever party comes into power, it will have made a commitment to increase government accountability.