Senate says residency in order for all but three members
OTTAWA — A Senate committee has cleared all but three senators in a probe of housing allowance claims among members of the red chamber.
Sen. David Tkachuk, the senator overseeing the investigation, told the Senate Thursday that after interviewing Sen. Dennis Patterson of Nunavut and Sen. Rod Zimmer of Manitoba, the committee found both met the residency requirements under the Constitution.
Three cases — those of suspended Sen. Patrick Brazeau, Sen. Mac Harb and Sen. Mike Duffy — have already been referred to outside auditors.
Tkachuk said that going forward, senators will have to furnish a driver’s licence, health card and income tax return to prove they are residents of the province they represent.
Since Monday, three members of the powerful internal economy committee have interviewed senators who appeared to have questionable or incomplete documentation to support their housing claims. The Conservative and Liberal leaders in the Senate had asked the committee to interview each senator claiming a housing allowance who could not definitively prove their primary residence was outside Ottawa, and argued that anyone caught violating the rules should repay the claim, with interest.
Questions about housing expenses were raised late last year over whether Brazeau lived primarily in Maniwaki, Que., as he claimed on expense forms, or in a home he owned in Gatineau, Que., just across the Ottawa River from Ottawa. The probe then widened to include Harb and Duffy, who are longtime residents of Ottawa but have claimed a housing allowance — Harb by stating his primary residence was in Pembroke, Ont., and Duffy by saying his was in Cavendish, P.E.I.
Duffy first said he had done nothing wrong, but later said he might have made a mistake with his housing claims, and pledged to repay thousands of dollars in housing allowances. He said the Senate’s expense forms were complicated and the rules of the chamber antiquated.
The form Duffy referred to asks senators to write down the address of their primary residence, then mark whether the home is farther than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill — the requirement that allows senators to claim up to $22,000 annually in living expenses in the capital. Senators who qualify can claim about $29 per day if they own or rent a home close to Parliament Hill, or up to $200 per day if they stay in a hotel.