National Post (National Edition)
Duffy exits Senate with parting shot
RETIREMENT AT 75
• On Wednesday, time will finally do what a criminal trial, an expense scandal and a suspension from his colleagues could not; Senator Mike Duffy will leave the red chamber for good.
Duffy turns 75 Wednesday, the mandatory retirement age for senators, forcing him to leave the chamber and moving him permanently to a cautionary tale instead of a consistent presence.
Late last month, Duffy made his last address to the Senate, speaking virtually due to the pandemic. After thanking his family and his staff for their support he spent most of his speech complaining the Senate had treated him poorly when it suspended his pay.
“The Senate is unelected and unaccountable to anyone other than itself. Sadly, that concept has been twisted to mean that senators are not permitted the procedural fairness available to every other resident of Canada,” he said. “Even the Charter of Rights has no application here.”
Duffy initially sat with the Conservative caucus in the Senate, but has been sitting as an independent since he returned. Through this office he declined an interview with the National Post.
Appointed to the Senate in 2009 by then prime minister Stephen Harper, Duffy became the most prominent of several senators, whose housing expenses came under fire in 2012.
Duffy claimed his cottage in Prince Edward Island as his primary residence and filed for housing expenses for his longtime home in Ottawa.
After a forensic audit was commissioned to look into expenses of several senators, Duffy agreed to pay more than $90,000 back for the living expenses, but it was later revealed the money had come from Harper's thenchief of staff Nigel Wright.
The RCMP charged Duffy with 31 criminal charges in connection to the scandal, but at trial in 2016 he was acquitted on all counts. Judge Charles Vaillancourt found Duffy had acted correctly but sharply criticized “Nigel Wright and his crew” for pushing senators around.
His fellow senators suspended Duffy without pay or benefits over the scandal, and following his acquittal he launched a lawsuit for $7.8 million against the Senate and the RCMP. In part the money was to recover his lost pay but also for the “reputational” damage.
The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled last year the Senate could not be forced to change its stance on the suspension. The court cited the concept of parliamentary privilege, which allows the Senate and the House of Commons to set their own rules.
The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Duffy's case in February, leaving the Senate out of the lawsuit, but Duffy's suit against the RCMP continues for now.
In his final Senate address, Duffy complained he
should have the same rights as any Canadian suspended from their job.
“I suspect most Canadians would find the idea of the Senate as a Charter-free zone unacceptable in our democracy. Sadly, reform-minded senators are learning that making change here is not easy,” he said.
He ended his speech, inviting Canadians to come visit Prince Edward Island when the pandemic ends.
“Despite the Senate's problems, I'm convinced Canada has a great future, as does my home province of Prince Edward Island,” he said. “I hope that you will come visit our lovely island, where in 1864, the idea of a country called Canada was born.”
His departure brings the number of vacant seats in the red chamber to 15 and the number of senators appointed by Harper down to 29. Six more senators are set to leave before the year is out.
According to numbers from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Duffy will be entitled to a $47,000 yearly pension once he steps down from the chamber.
Fellow PEI Senator Diane Griffin, who joined the Senate after Duffy had returned from his suspension, said Duffy was a help in learning how the red chamber worked when she was first appointed.
“He called me right away and we got together for lunch and he gave me a good briefing on the Senate,” she said. “I found him to be very helpful in terms of helping me to make the transition into the Senate.”
She said after the scandal, when he returned to Senate work, he did so quietly advocating for projects in Atlantic Canada, particularly in PEI where he pushed for more services to rural communities, including highspeed internet.
“Whenever he worked on an issue he was doing it most effectively behind the scenes,” she said.
Griffin said Duffy did good work in the red chamber, but she knows the expense scandal will always be what people remember.
“Unfortunately, I think it is unavoidable,” she said. “That's what he will be famous for and his work in the Senate will get less attention.”
HE WAS DOING IT MOST EFFECTIVELY BEHIND THE SCENES.