Self-policing just isn’t working for the Senate
Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes
The Auditor General is recommending the RCMP investigate the spending of 9 more Senators and has fingered another 21 for improper use of their office budgets. This is happening against the back-drop of the Mike Duffy trial which has soured the country significantly on the Red Chamber.
Among the inappropriate ways that Senators have been bilking the public purse is to go their second jobs. It’s no secret that many of these individuals hold down other positions as well, but they should not be charging the Senate for travel that does not support Senate business. They can find a way to have the corporate boards or lobby groups that are benefitting from the work pay the cost themselves.
Other Senators used the public dime to go on fishing trips, take in hockey games, and numerous other things that most people pony up the cash for themselves. The Auditor General indicates that some of the cases against the current and former Senators bear a resemblance to the Duffy case and relate to the location of their primary residences being in Ottawa and not the parts of Canada they are appointed to represent. For the remainder being referred to the RCMP, his investigators have been stonewalled by the Senate itself. That is, bare minimum, bad optics.
It’s not as if the Senate had a sterling reputation to begin with. Most Canadians would be hard pressed to name the Senator that ‘represents’ them or any Senator beyond those that gust into the news for all the wrong reasons. Intended to be a place of sober second thought, it has turned into a rat’s nest of Conservative and Liberal party operatives who campaign and fundraise with impunity. Their legislative work in the last few parliaments has followed strict marching order from the Prime Ministers’ Office and I cannot recall one time when they altered or refused legislation that has been passed by the government.
What the Senate has done is block bills that opposition members worked to pass through the House of Commons. That was the case for Jack Layton’s climate change legislation. It lets the government look as if they aren’t opposed to an idea all the while knowing the Senate will do their dirty work. Jack’s bill was never debated for one minute in Senate; in fact there was no attempt to even provide the illusion of sober second thought as they voted it down on introduction.
While it is true that some of the Senators named by the Auditor General have paid back any money that was deemed inappropriate, others are fighting back. It is clear that the real problem won’t go away until there is better oversight.
Until these items made their way into the news, Canadians didn’t hear much from the Senate because it polices itself. The sad truth is that House of Commons works the same way. New Democrats began this parliament with a motion to replace the secret Board of Internal Economy with a transparent body that could provide taxpayers with the transparency they deserve, but it was voted down by the old school parties. It would seem that protecting their own privilege motivates them more than they would ever care to publicly admit.
