Sober second thoughts
The Wallin affair looks to become the proverbial snowflake that caused an avalanche. With the auditor general intending to look at the expense claims of all senators, and the current investigation raising questions about lobbying practices, what at first seemed to be a minor case of bookkeeping abuse may well have much larger consequences.
According to news reports, Auditor General Michael Ferguson plans an examination of the spending practices of every member of the upper chamber. Not only will the performance audit look at individual senators, it will also consider how well the institution manages its resources. That should induce some sober second thinking.
Presumably there’ll also be some rethinking among the lobbyists who troll the parliamentarian precinct looking for political backing on their interests. As the Citizen’s Glen McGregor reports, a listing of events from Wallin’s electronic calender shows she regularly met with corporations and non-profit groups. Nothing wrong with that, of course — it doesn’t appear that Wallin herself broke any lobbying rules — only it seems some of these organizations didn’t bother to report the meetings to the federal lobbying commissioner as required by law. Wallin’s e-calender entries clearly raise concerns about the nature of contacts between public officials and nongovernmental agents. This, too, should be included in the auditor general’s inquiries.
Even better, though, the prime minister should open MPs’ books for a look. Stephen Harper won his majority government largely on a commitment to open and accountable government. While the expense scandal reflects badly on this commitment, Harper could turn it to his advantage — at least in the public mind — by having the auditor general examine MPs’ expense ledgers and e-calendar listings. (That includes those of the prime minister and his cabinet.)
To be sure, such an exercise in accountability must not become a witch hunt. The majority of MPs and senators are, no doubt, honest in their accounting and their conduct. But this Senate expense scandal has created the widespread public perception, rightly or wrongly, that something is rotten on Parliament Hill. A thorough examination of expense practices would be a good way to excise that something.