Taxpayers will no longer be funding meals for MLA’s family members

VANCOUVER – Taxpayers in B.C. will no longer be paying for meals for the family members of MLAs.

Members of the Legislative Assembly voted yesterday to immediately stop the practice.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong says if elected officials want to bring their family members to Victoria, they can pay for it themselves.

Until now, spouses, children and grandchildren of MLAs were able to expense $61 a day in food when visiting the legislature in Victoria.

The little-known policy of taxpayer-paid meals for family members was revealed at an all-party legislature meeting earlier this month.