PM can’t escape effects of Senate spending storm
Tories worked hard to distance Harper from woes of upper house, but this scandal will suck him in
MONTREAL— The latest twists in the Senate scandal raise almost as many questions about the political management of the government as they do about the spending ways of the upper house.
Conservative strategists have spent the past two years putting as much distance as possible between the prime minister and a Senate dominated by his handpicked appointees.
Harper has not filled a single Senate vacancy since the scandal broke out.
He has punted every opposition query as to his role in the handling of the file to the courts, the RCMP and/or the auditor general.
He has declined to comment on the tug-of-war between disgraced Sen. Mike Duffy’s defence team and the Senate’s gatekeepers.
He has refrained from giving any hints as to the way forward in a depleted upper house.
After the Supreme Court ruled that there could be no Senate reform without constitutional negotiations with the provinces, he set aside his party’s longstanding commitment to overhaul the institution.
Now, Harper will be spending the next predictably stormy week as physically removed from the Senate front line as possible.
The first leaks of the long-awaited audit of senators’ spending on Thursday night found the prime minister packing his bags for a week-long European tour.
OTTAWA— The Senate handed the expense records of nine of its own to the Mounties on Friday as part of the fallout from the two-year examination of its books by auditor general Michael Ferguson.
“We’ve committed to not question any element of the report,” Senate Speaker Leo Housakos told the Star, adding that he would have preferred that Ferguson be the one to refer his own findings to the RCMP.
The Canadian Press reported retired Liberal senator Rod Zimmer, one of the nine whose expenses were referred to the police, led the pack when it came to the amounts Ferguson said should be repaid. He had disputed expense claims totalling $176,014 in travel expenses for nonparliamentary business and a housing allowance he should not have claimed.
The Star has confirmed the audit to be released June 9 identifies a total of $976,627 in inappropriately claimed expenses, and that about $546,000 is linked to just five senators.
“The weaknesses and problems uncovered in the course of this comprehensive audit of senators’ expenses call for a transformational change in the way expenses are claimed, managed, controlled and reviewed,” Ferguson wrote, according to The Canadian Press.
Housakos said the 30 senators named in the report, including himself, have been sent invoices demanding repayment of the amounts in the report.
They are all being given the opportunity to appeal the findings through a new arbitration process presided over by former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie, the results of which will be final and binding.
Several senators have already signalled their intention to dispute the findings. That includes Zimmer, who The Canadian Press said provided a written response to the audit that accused Ferguson of appearing to be interfering in the trial of suspended Sen. Mike Duffy, where residency is central to the proceedings.
“Will this be seen as prejudging the conclusion Justice Charles Vaillancourt will reach on the same matter, and what if Justice Vaillancourt does not agree with the auditor general’s interpretation?” said Zimmer’s response.
Two sitting senators are among the nine referred to the RCMP.
Sen. Pierre-Hugues quit the Conservative caucus Thursday, confirming he would be subject to a probe.
The other, Sen. Liberal Colin Kenny, issued a statement Friday suggesting he would fight any allegations of improper spending and that his response included in the report “accurately reflects his views on the audit process and the findings that were reached.”
The three most powerful members of the Senate leadership — Housakos, Government leader Claude Carignan, and Senate Liberal Leader James Cowan — are among 21 other senators who Ferguson concludes should reimburse inappropriate expenses.
Housakos on Friday allowed a Star reporter to review the two-page section of the report referring to his own findings, which concludes he should reimburse $8,139.
That includes $6,710 from his office budget for media relations and community outreach performed by a contractor Housakos had hired instead of full-time policy adviser.
The report says that while “most of the work performed by the contractor related to parliamentary business,” these particular activities listed on the invoice were not included in the original contract.
Housakos, who plans to appeal to Binnie, notes this was less than what it would have cost to hire a full-time employee.
The other $1,609 involves travel by a staffer related to a charity ball in Montreal, which Housakos said the staffer has already reimbursed.
Cowan is also planning to appeal to Binnie for just over $10,000 worth of travel claims for three trips to Toronto in 2011, which Cowan said were for parliamentary business and had been supported by the necessary documentation before being approved by the administration.
Cowan said auditors asked for additional information to prove he was there on parliamentary business, which he did not have, so Ferguson concluded it was private business that should be reimbursed.
“Maybe I should remember these things, but I don’t,” Cowan said Friday.
A staffer for Carignan, meanwhile, reimbursed about $3,000 in travel expenses flagged by the auditor in March.