Time for more transparency

Re: Wallin’s entitlements, Aug. 14.

The independent audit by Deloitte of Senator Pamela Wallin’s fouryear travel bonanza allegedly cost in excess of $120,000. The release of this audit fuels the ongoing Senate expense scandal concerning claims made by senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb and Wallin, who collectively are now asked to repay a combined total of approximately half-a-million dollars. Truth be told, had the Canadian Parliament been subject to the Access to Information legislation, no Senator, or MP for that matter, would have dared submit with flagrant nonchalance and defiance such an avalanche of expense claims, knowing that their spending habits would have been scrutinized from the get go by a vigilant media, not an afterthe-fact user audit.

In the United Kingdom, since 1999, members of the public have had a Right of Access to information held by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This includes committee reports, briefing papers on current legislation and travel expenses of honourable members. Less than 20 per cent of the requests are directed at the Lords, while 80 per cent are directed to the Commons. Between 2005 and 2009, requests exposed systemic expenses abuse by UK, Ireland and Scotland’s MPs including frivolous, if not grandiose, abuse of public funds. This expenses scandal resulted in the resignation of the Commons’ Speaker, a number of MPs stepping down and three MPs imprisoned. This built-in accountability trail is now keeping these honourable members accountable.

The time has come to address the blind and secretive spot in our Canadian democracy. The time has come to make the House of Commons and the Senate more transparent and more accountable. This can be achieved at very little cost by making Parliament subject to its own Access to Information Act.

MICHEL W. DRAPEAU, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa

Keep Senate, PMO apart

Re: Wallin check exposes lobbyists, Aug. 16.

The Senate expenses scandal has been invoked, not least by the government, as a justification for the urgent need for Senate reform. Even with an elected Senate, however, or one with a more vigorous vetting process for appointees, a high-profile candidate like Pamela Wallin would undoubtedly have a good chance of being appointed to a “reformed” Upper Chamber.

Finding the right personalities is not the problem. The problem is the hyper-partisan ideology of the Conservative government. The assumption that senators are there to advance the financial and political fortunes of the Conservative Party, combined with a sense of entitlement which pervades not only the Senate but the upper echelons of the public service as well, comes with a high political cost.

Harper’s inability to distinguish between the interests of the party and the interests of the state is the root cause of the current Senate malaise and indeed many of the other unnecessary difficulties dogging the government. The solution is to cut the links between the Senate and the PMO.

PETER MCRAE, Ottawa