A year ago, Alison Redford was involved in a large scandal in travel expenditure that ultimately resulted in her stepping down as Premier and played a large role in the PC's defeat last election. This was a scandal that took the majority of Albertans by surprise after being revealed by the auditor general. However it shouldn't be this way. The data is available at the Alberta Open Data Portal and has been since May 28th 2013. The problem is of course that the data is quite inaccessible.
Introducing Accountable Alberta. This simple android app compiles all of the travel expenses data that is available through the open data portal and presents it in a clear and user friendly manner. Browse through over 200,000 lines of data with ease, easily see the details of any transactions that stand out, even view the receipts from transactions. If any transactions really stand out then flag the transaction and add it to the global database of flagged transactions. The flagged database is analyzed then cleared every three months when the main database is updated on the data portal. If a particular transaction gets flagged multiple times then the transaction is made known to the Office of the Auditor General and a general inquiry is filed with the Albertan government. Any response will then be made known to the public. The entire system is designed so that it empowers the average citizen to review government expenditures and allow the people to be a power of oversight.
If this app is deemed worthy of winning this challenge then it allows the app to be worked on as more than just a side project. The ultimate goal is to incorporate all data sources involving government expenditure and launch the system on multiple platforms. No matter the results of the challenge, this app and concept will continue to be worked on in stepping towards a truly Accountable Alberta.
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