Auditor General To Examine Expenses Of All Senators

That's a good start, then audit all the MPs as well.

This will be interesting!

Bet theres a lot of sweatin' and a scamblin' senators right now - Libs & Cons. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch - get out the popcorn.

Good move PMSH - share the shame wif da Lib's

In order to be reimbursed for expenses you have to submit them to someone. That someone then approves or declines your expenses. If your expenses are approved then a cheque gets cut.

My question is "Why aren't any of these expenses being declined when they are being submitted?"

Does no one kick anything back? Does every expense report just get mindlessly approved?

Someone is not doing their job and needs to be fired at the very least.

The senators in question deserve jail.

Kate, if you were a Senator and slept in your car -the media would run months of stories on how you brought disrepute to the Senate-- how you are breaking municipal by laws --how you were adding to Global warming with you car idling etc etc...you would be run out of Ottawa so quickly

Of the 108 Senators, I would be surprised if you found that many of them engaged in the kinds of dishonest practices that we have been reading about. On the other hand, it doesn't appear that Senators have been subject to the same accountability requirements that govern members of the Commons. This problem is exacerbated by the tendency to appoint to the Senate "eminent persons" who have become accustomed to (and feel entitled to) their entitlements.

I have often expressed to myself the same sentiment that Kate has done; then again, as per @kady, we would soon find ourselves listed as "Independent Conservatives" stuck sitting in a corner with Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau, and Elaine McCoy.

All the blame is on the individual Senators but would there not have to be strict guidelines as to expenses followed by those who write the cheques? It appears there are more people to blame for this than the Senators, they do not sign their own cheques. The whole system in that place needs to be checked out.

At least there may be something positive coming from all this for PM Harper's desire to have the provinces elect the Senators to be appointed. They have the option of doing that or shutting up, the Senate will not be abolished any time soon.

I'm beginning to think that a law to require the Senators and MPs to sleep in their cars is a good idea, and I'd like one here in the USA to require it of Congressmen and Senators.

When the auditor is done with the senate he can start on parliament - pork is everywhere but I'm willing to be my brand new F250 that we will find the left side of the houses far more proficient at trough guzzling than the right side. It started with Mini-Me Truedough padding the payroll with paid speaking engagements - but Kady seems silent on that reality right Kate ;-)

The whole Canadian System is corrupt, including the role of Auditor GEn.

Who does not remember the Liberal Minister who used her employees to pick-up her BAR bills & then approved the employee’s BER. She would have been jailed in any other system but the Auditor Gen just ignored the practice as normal. It is NOT

What would happen if CBC employees were audited (independent)? The instances where CBC employees paid expenses for others... Waste & duplication. The Senate (record) investigation of the War record of Billy * reveled that a CBC employee (girl friend of Producer) paid expenses for the Film Board Producers research in London. CBC had no role/interest in the research. No one batted an eye, why?

Get you heads out of your rectums & stop the practice

Steven Harper tried to placate the raging idiots, the lefties by being politically correct, appointing Brazeau, and reaching out to the snakes in the gallery, the media, appointing Duffy and Wallin. In Brazeaus case, he's not bright enough. In the case of Wallin and Duffy they have had years of Lieberal slush partys they attended under da proof is da proof, and once a media whore always a media whore, and when something is free and not bolted down, they will abscond. Harper got bit in the ass placating lefties, nothing more, never try to pet a cobra.

Funniest thing of in all of this is there was no interest in reporting or sleuthing by the media when the Liberals were in power. If one got caught the rest were left alone. Just as Liberal Senator Harb, the one who has been reported to have spent the most, is left alone to take his case to court. Same old, same old, the double standard alive and well.

This is just a short term political stunt. You don't see Harper making any promises to renew the whole governance model around public spending. Give the AG free access to all public and private entities that receive taxpayer money. Make them all subject to FOIP as well.

Let's not forget where Wallin and Duffy received their 'training' in expense account abuse. What were their records like at CTV...along with all the current reporters. How many of them are buyibg $16 orange juices in London...costs which are passed on to you in your cable bill.

The only thing that will stop this is some serious jail time.

This makes me sick, as if we don't pay them enough, on top of that they have to steal from us.
reminds me of hogs at a trough.

maybe we should give the sleep in their car thing a try, as what we are doing now doesn't seem to be working our in our best interest.

Well for one thing let's stop blaming PM Harper for every little hiccup that comes down the pipe. He is not the national dictator. He can not just wave his hand and banish bad practices in the senate. The senate and the house of commons do not answer to the PMO nor should they. The fact is that Walin and Duffy are not smart enough to come up with these little scams on their own. When they joined the senate they were advised likely by other senators if not bureaucrats that this is the way things are done. This does not exonerate a couple of greedy individuals who took advantage of the 'system'. However it does point to bad practices within the civil service that someone would approve this kind of graft. I hope the AG who once again does not answer to the PMO does a complete audit and names names of those who took advantage and those who allowed it to happen. Then I hope the justice system which again does not answer to the PMO takes appropriate action where true fraud has taken place.

Do you think that the incestuous relationship of "journalists" and politicians, produces flawed existence?

Now if the plebeian did not have to pay for it, they could intercourse as much as it pleases them.

Since the working stiff has to pay, they should be thrown to the lions until there is not so much as a greasy spot left of them.

Senator Wallin is getting railroaded.

Changing the guidelines for allowable travel expenses in 2012 and then applying them retroactively is unfair.

It is unethical treatment by the Senate Committee and by the accountants.

No one can reasonably be expected to follow guidelines that are enacted 1 to 3 years in the future.

It is a Charter Right(Sect. 11(g) not to be subject to retroactive criminal code enactments.

The MSM is acting as if the trips were vacations. Staying overnight in her condo in Toronto so as to avoid arriving late at night and having to drive 2 hours at night in a Saskatchewan winter is reasonable.

She is, as she promised to be, an "activist Senator" and works hard enough to make most other Senators look like they are sleeping in comparison.

This is a massive smear campaign on the only Senator who could easily get elected in the area she represents.

Announcing a full examination of Senate expenses will take at least 18 months. It will be ready for P.M. Harper to use it as a justification for reforming the Senate in the next federal election.

In all fairness we did not get here overnight, when new Senators start I am sure they are shown the ropes by the veterans and even when someone questions whether something is right or wrong they are probably told that is the way we have always done it.
This is a great time to look at the system and fix it now, put ethics rules in place for the 21st century and lay out in writing what the penalties for abuse are. I actually do have sympathy for these people and do not believe they should be in jail, I have no doubt they have acted in a way their peers told them was acceptable,it was not right by any means however with the exception of Harb whose gig seems like it was an outright attempt to mislead and steal taxpayer funds, the shortcoming are more born of ignorance then malice.
I know she was not a senator but does anyone remember our GG the honourable Adrienne Clarkson, seems to me she had a bit of entitlement problem, what ever happened with that?

I fail to understand how Wallin attending public events would be considered personal. Every big public event has political guests and the expectation is that they were on the public dime. Most people like to see their politicians.

As Patrick Brazeau stated, he asked what to claim and they told him. Now they want it back. I think the Senate is largely to blame for running a dog and pony show.

A good sign that an audit is a failure is that it cost more than the funds recovered. I think and audit into the auditors would be a better idea. The vasts majority of Wallin's claims were legit and they had to generously re-interpret the rules to get anything.

As far as residence goes, I'm not convinced that it is as straight forward as many believe. Residency might be as simple as declaring residency. Drivers licenses, health care, and tax returns have specific rules. Brazeau was the only one to meet the rules use to justify crapping on the others and they want his money too. I suspect the auditor is inventing residency rules that have no justification in law.

Auditor General To Examine Expenses Of All Senators

It will be like a trip into the catacombs of the padded, perfidious, praetorian, profiteering, racketeers of pork barrelling. Putrefaction ridden living corpses of avarice.
The graveyard of the eternal, ravenous, selfish, stingy, swinish do nothings of Canadian class Elitism.

"23(5) He shall be resident in the Province for which he is appointed;

23(6) In the Case of Quebec he shall have his Real Property Qualification in the Electoral Division for which he is appointed, or shall be resident in that Division.

31. The Place of a Senator shall become vacant in any of the following Cases:(5) If he ceases to be qualified in respect of Property or of Residence; provided, that a Senator shall not be deemed to have ceased to be qualified in respect of Residence by reason only of his residing at the Seat of the Government of Canada while holding an Office under that Government requiring his Presence there."

Note that the constitution does not say exclusively resident or primarily resident. It says "resident" and there is nothing odd, unusual, or illegal about having more than one residence. Counting days or asking neighbors is irrelevant. I highly doubt that there could be any requirement to live anywhere for any length of time provided the possession of a residence in the province or division of appointment.