Clarkson’s spending much higher: Sources
Her expenditures covered by government have often hit annual limit of $206,000, they say
OTTAWA — As Rideau Hall prepares a “thorough review” of the lifetime expense program for former governors general, Postmedia has learned Adrienne Clarkson’s expense claims since leaving office are substantially higher than revealed by the public accounts, in some years reaching the program’s annual spending limit of $206,000.
There is no allegation that Clarkson has ever broken any rules. However, she has taken full advantage of the little-known program that funds the activities of former governors general, and sources told Postmedia that over the years Clarkson has been the strongest opponent of reforming it.
Postmedia has spoken to three people with direct knowledge of the program to better understand it. They would speak only on the condition their names not be published, as they either do not want to jeopardize their relationship with Rideau Hall or are not authorized to discuss the program.
The expenses program was originally created in 1979 with the idea that outgoing governors general still had public duties related to their time in office, and should receive some support to fulfil them.
At present the program requires essentially no public disclosure of what expenses the former governors general are claiming.
The only information about the expenses of former governors general emerges through a quirk of accounting, where a supplier charging more than $100,000 to the government is identified individually in the government’s public accounts. That is how Clarkson gets singled out nearly every year: she regularly charges more than $100,000 in the Temporary Help Services line item, so she appears as a supplier in the public accounts.
However, sources told Postmedia this represents only a portion of the expense claims Clarkson has filed each year, accounting for expenses related to running her office. Other expenses such as travel and hospitality are filed under different line items, but do not appear in the public accounts because as a budget line item they don’t total more than $100,000.
The current annual limit on the program is $206,000, according to one source, and Clarkson has spent to that limit in multiple years since she left Rideau Hall in 2005.
Clarkson, who is travelling in Europe, has declined to respond to several requests for comment. However, after days of intense media scrutiny following Postmedia’s report on her expenses, she provided an op-ed to The Globe and Mail defending her use of the program.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his intention to review the program on Oct. 31, the day after Postmedia’s initial report. In a statement Monday, Rideau Hall said it is fully on board with that review.
“The Office of the Governor General supports the government’s intention to review the reimbursement program that was put in place in 1979 during Governor General Schreyer’s mandate,” said a statement from Natalie Babin Dufresne, Rideau Hall’s director of communications.
Over time, the program created concern in the Office of the Governor General that there weren’t enough clear rules around the expenditures. In 2012, during David Johnston’s tenure, Rideau Hall drafted some proposed guidelines for use of the program, seeking to apply clearer standards and rules. When the proposal was circulated among the former governors general, according to two sources, Clarkson pushed back hardest on the proposed guidelines.
All three sources who spoke to Postmedia felt it is reasonable for Rideau Hall to give some administrative support to former governors general. However, they acknowledged the lack of transparency around what the money is actually going towards, and said they found it hard to defend the indefinite time period during which former governors general can draw on the public purse.
In her op-ed for the Globe, Clarkson offered some details of her schedule. “Last year, I fulfilled 182 commitments, many of them public events,” she wrote. “I gave 16 speeches with no honorarium or fees, and 10 pieces of writing for no fee. All of this was related to my life as Canada’s 26th governor-general, and all of this came to me at the request of Canadians.” She said her expenses are “in line” with the support given to other former governors general and said she has followed Rideau Hall’s instructions on the use of the program. “The existence of this program has never been secret,” Clarkson wrote. But she did not address whether the expenses should be disclosed to the public.