Canadian Senate expenses scandal
In a June 2015 report, the Auditor General identified thirty senators whose claims were inappropriate, and of these, recommended that nine cases be referred for police investigation.
[6] Fourteen of these senators opted for binding arbitration by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie, and his report was issued on March 21, 2016.
[12]: 5 [13] It was later learned in May 2013 through the media that the source of this money was a personal cheque provided by Nigel Wright, who was then Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office.
[11] The RCMP had started their investigation in March 2013 when media reports were published regarding Deloitte's external review of the expenses of Brazeau, Duffy and Harb.
[31] The senators identified in the Auditor General's report had the option to submit to binding arbitration by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Binnie.
"[32] The Senate's investigation into the accuracy of Brazeau's declaration that his primary residence was in Maniwaki, Quebec began as a result of media reports.
[34] The review period was April 2011 when Brazeau began to claim living expenses to September 30, 2012, the last date for which full records were available.
[35]: 2, 13–20 Based on the finding that only 10% of Brazeau's time was in Maniwaki, the Senate ruled that his "level of presence" did not support his primary residence declaration.
With the parliamentary session ending when the federal election was called, it is expected that Brazeau will begin receiving his salary again, so further amounts may be recovered through the 20% reduction.
[14][39][40] On February 4, 2014, the RCMP announced that Brazeau was charged in relation to his living expenses with one count of fraud under s. 380 of the Criminal Code and one of breach of trust by a public officer under s.
[54] On July 30, 2014, the Law Society of British Columbia announced that it closed its file related to Perrin's alleged role in the affair because the complaint was not valid.
[55] On October 25, 2014, the Law Society of Upper Canada also reported that after fully investigating, it had no concerns whatsoever with Perrin's conduct as a lawyer.
[61] Also on October 28, Duffy announced that the Conservative Party – via their chief lawyer, Arthur Hamilton – paid all of his legal fees relating to the scandal, tabling a cheque stub and corresponding memo as proof.
[63] Duffy also tabled an email sent to him from Nigel Wright's account at the Prime Minister's Office; the PMO had previously claimed that none existed in response to an Access to Information Act request.
[64] The RCMP started its investigation in March 2013 after media reported that the Senate had retained Deloitte in relation to the expenses of Brazeau, Duffy and Harb.
[28]: 3 On June 6, 2013, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) filed documents with the courts, revealing that three senior members of the Prime Minister's Office and another Conservative senator, Irving Gerstein, knew about the transfer of Wright's funds.
[66] On April 15, 2014, the RCMP announced that they had found "no ground for criminal charges" against Wright and dropped their investigation into the matter, returning it to the federal Ethics Commissioner.
[74] A Postmedia News analysis indicated Wallin was ranked second highest in overall spending at $369,593 behind recently retired Conservative Senator Gerry St. Germain, who spent $378,292 during the same period.
[80][81] By March 2015, the RCMP had identified 150 "suspicious" claims, with 21 of these involving her role on boards of Bell Media and BMO Harris Private Banking, and as chancellor for the University of Guelph.
[41] After 2 weeks of debate, on Tuesday November 5, 2013 the Senate voted to suspend Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau without pay and most benefits.
[87] Each province or territory is allocated a set number of Senate seats, so that Canada's regions have a voice in the legislative process, even if their population is comparatively small.
[90]: 5–6, 23 Deloitte LLP was the audit firm hired by the Senate to investigate the expense claims of Brazeau, Duffy, Harb, and Wallin.
[90]: 16 In June 2012, after doing a performance audit of Senate Administration, the Auditor General reported that "improvements were needed so that documentation would be sufficient to demonstrate that the transactions [authorized] were for parliamentary business."
[90]: 2 In determining whether expenses were incurred for parliamentary business, the "fundamental principle" of the audit was that "public funds should not be used to pay for personal or private activities.
[90]: 9–12 Senators should "collectively determine a core set of principles that weigh the cost to taxpayers against the expenditures necessary to conduct parliamentary business."
This recommendation arose because the Auditor General "found many occasions where Senators' choices could have been less costly, particularly in relation to travel, per diems, and telecommunications.
The other 21 cases (detailed in Appendix B) were recommended for review by the Senate's Internal Economy Committee to make a determination whether the expenses were for parliamentary business.
As at March 16, 2016, the RCMP found no evidence to warrant criminal charges against 24 of the 30 senators, including Pierre-Hughes Boisvenu, Sharon Carstairs, William Rompkey and Rod Zimmer.
The RCMP is still investigating six senators, including Marie-P. Charette-Poulin, Colin Kenny, Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, Donald Oliver and Gerry St.
As part of its modernization, the Senate has "made several significant changes including tightening expense provisions for travel, hospitality and procurement; requiring proof of residency; implementing a new Ethics and Conflict of Interest Code that ranks among the toughest in the Commonwealth; and the establishment of an independent Office of the Senate Ethics Officer."
