Hon. Jamie Baillie's response my recent letter.

 

Dear Mr. Fardy:

 

Thank you for your recent letter.  I am delighted that you have been following my efforts to put people back on top of the political pyramid.

 

To me, this starts truly at the top, with a panel of citizens to oversee the pay, benefits and pension arrangements of our elected officials.  This panel would, of course, meet in an open and transparent manner, and would draw on whatever resources it needs to do its work.  In this way, we can begin to increase confidence in our system of government.

 

With this in place, I believe we can apply the same principle throughout government.  I agree that better decisions are made when they are determined in a transparent and acountable way.  This means engaging citizens directly on the many challenging issues we face, and giving them the information they need to do their job as engaged citizens. I know you have done some good advocacy work in this area over the past number of years.

 

I believe that new media technologies allow us to make much more information available publicly in a cost-efficient manner, and as a matter of routine disclosure.  For example, costing information on government programs could be openly provided, allowing for better tendering of work and an overall lower cost to government.

 

Thank you for your ongoing work in this area.  I am always open to discussng more specific ideas on how to create a more open, transparent and accountable government.

 

Yours truly,

 

Hon. Jamie Baillie, MLA

Leader, Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia.