Speaker takes on Mulcair
Kinsella under fire over housing claims
The Conservative Speaker of the Senate lashed out at NDP Leader Tom Mulcair Wednesday after Mulcair questioned his housing expense claims.
In an extraordinary statement released to the media, Conservative Sen. Noel Kinsella noted Mulcair “lives for free in a lovely house in upscale Rockcliffe Park at Stornoway.” Stornoway is the official residence of the leader of the Opposition.
Kinsella has come under fire in the House of Commons because he has claimed a secondary housing allowance for a home he bought in Ottawa before becoming a senator. Kinsella, who also oversees the Senate committee that supervises senators’ expenses, represents New Brunswick, where he also owns a home.
Kinsella was defended in the Commons by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said neither his case — nor that of a Liberal senator, Pierrette Ringuette, who has a similar housing arrangement — should be compared to that of Sen. Mike Duffy. Duffy was found to have inappropriately claimed a secondary housing allowance for his Ottawa residence while representing Prince Edward Island.
Kinsella and Ringuette are both longtime residents of the province of New Brunswick, Harper said. In contrast, Duffy claimed his primary residence was in Prince Edward Island, when it was not, Harper told the Commons.
Harper was responding as Mulcair demanded to know why Kinsella and Ringuette were still in the upper chamber, given the housing claims.
Mulcair asked, “Conservative Sen. Noel Kinsella and Liberal Sen. Pierrette Ringuette pulled the exact same trick as Mike Duffy, the trick that, on Oct. 24, the prime minister said was the reason for getting rid of Mike Duffy. Why are Noel Kinsella and Pierrette Ringuette still in the Senate?”
“Mr. Duffy was living at a longtime residence and claiming travel expenses. The two senators in question are longtime residents of the province of New Brunswick,” Harper said.
Kinsella bought his home in Ottawa in 1989 while he was on leave from his job at St. Thomas Aquinas University to work as a senior foreign affairs civil servant. At the time, Kinsella also owned a home in Fredericton, N.B., a city he has had ties to since 1965. In 1990, Brian Mulroney appointed Kinsella to the Senate.
Ringuette bought her Ottawa home in 1998, the year after she lost her seat in the House of Commons in an election. In 2002, Jean Chrétien appointed Ringuette to the Senate.
Both told Postmedia News that they filed the proper paperwork with the Senate to support their expense claims. As well, neither sparked any concerns from the committee that oversaw a review of housing expenses.
In his statement attacking Mulcair, Kinsella wrote that Mulcair’s views “on Canada’s bicameral parliament and the Senate of Canada are well known.”