Former senator wants fees reimbursed

A Senate committee is leaving open the door to pay the legal fees incurred by a former Liberal senator, who says the upper chamber has a responsibility to cover the $82,000 she spent after an audit flagged her expanses as questionable.

In deciding to take a little longer to deal with the request from Sharon Carstairs, the internal economy committee was warned Thursday that it could set a precedent for dozens of others, including Sen. Mike Duffy, to seek compensation even after they were previously denied.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson’s review of Carstairs’s accounts two years ago raised questions about her primary residence and $7,528 in living expenses and her case ended up with the RCMP. She said she sought legal advice to help her through the process.

The Mounties found no reason to conduct an official investigation into Carstairs’s spending, or that of the other 29 senators named in the report. In early December, the internal economy committee decided not to take her or any other senators to court to recoup the questioned expenses.

The Senate ordinarily doesn’t cover legal fees for a senator subject to a criminal investigation or criminal charges. It will cover expenses in certain cases to protect members of the upper chamber from unfair charges.

“Mine was an unfair charge,” Carstairs said in an interview.

“There is absolutely no evidence that I broke any rule of the Senate whatsoever and if there was any doubt about that, that was put firmly to rest by the (Duffy verdict) statements on residency issues.”

On Thursday morning, Carstairs made her case before the committee that the upper chamber should cover her legal fees, which were almost 11 times the amount the auditor general questioned.

Carstairs left the Senate in 2011.