‘We survived the unjustified bs!’

Back on Nov. 5, 2013, the day the Senate suspended three of its Conservative members amid an expenses scandal, the only colleague of theirs who opposed the penalties, Hugh Segal, said he had “zero” hope any of them would ever be permitted to return.

In fact, Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin all went on to regain their jobs — a comeback victory they suddenly decided to flaunt on Wednesday night, when Brazeau posted a smiling group photo to his verified Twitter account.

“Like it or not, we survived the unjustified bs!” Brazeau wrote as a caption.

The “bs” over which the senators prevailed were allegations of improper spending that prompted the RCMP to investigate each of them.

Though Wallin was never charged and the Crown withdrew fraud and breach of trust charges against Brazeau in 2016, Duffy’s case culminated in a criminal trial at which he was cleared of all 31 criminal charges.

Duffy, a former broadcaster nominated to the Senate by Stephen Harper, was alleged to have falsely claimed that he primarily lived in P.E.I. to qualify for the housing allowance despite owning a home in Ottawa for decades. Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt dismissed 27 charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust against Duffy and found him not guilty of the other four at his trial in April 2016.

At the time, Duffy’s lawyer, Don Bayne, called the verdict “a resounding acquittal” and said the senator had been subjected for three years “to more public humiliation than probably any Canadian in history.”

Brazeau was also suspected of improperly availing himself of the housing allowance given to senators who live outside the Ottawa area by claiming his main residence was in Maniwaki, Que. Independent auditors determined that Brazeau hadn’t made any false claims.

Wallin, a longtime TV journalist and fellow Harper nominee, came under legal scrutiny for her travel expenses; investigators believed she’d billed the Senate for trips that weren’t connected to parliamentary business, including travel for her work on corporate boards. Wallin said her office might have erred in filing certain claims and repaid the Senate more than $150,000.

It’s unclear why, exactly, the three wanted to pose for a photo together or if Duffy and Wallin knew Brazeau planned to post the snapshot.