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NDP Leader Ryan Meili noted that other provinces, such as Alberta and B.C., publish far more detailed information about ministerial travel, sometimes including receipts for individual purchases.

The NDP later managed to secure records for a number of government ministers, including Education Minister Gord Wyant.

It criticized a number of lunches and coffee meetings he expensed, including a $57.95 lunch with a former cabinet minister and a $9.77 coffee appointment with his deputy minister.

But expenses for other ministers remained stuck behind hefty fee estimates. The NDP called on the government to release all ministerial travel information before the Spring legislative sitting, which began on Monday.

Currently, the Saskatchewan government only publishes ministerial travel reports for out-of-province trips, and only once every six months.

The province said in a release that it will now publish that information on a quarterly basis, and will do the same for trips inside Saskatchewan.

The disclosure will include an itemized account of flights within the province, as well as an itemized account of meals. The government will also release total expenses for accommodation, ground travel and meal per diems.

The information will be broken down by month. The disclosure will start in the fiscal year 2020-21, which begins on April 1.

Meili welcomed the announcement as a “big step forward for transparency” when asked about the new disclosure policy on Monday, though he noted that he still needs to study the details.

“Better late than never, I guess would be the answer, because we’ve been asking for this transparency for some time,” said Meili.

But he faulted the government for not releasing the remaining 2019-20 ministerial expenses his party has sought.

“Will they now waive those FOI fees and release the information to date?” Meili asked. “Or are they going to hide that until somewhere down the road past the 2020 election?”

awhite-crummey@postmedia.com