Being Noël Kinsella: A day in the life of the Senate Speaker – on the day charges are laid

OTTAWA – Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella is getting briefed.

He arrives at his crimson office in the Red Chamber shortly after 9:10 am, immediately greeted by the news that former and suspended senators Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau, respectively, are about to be charged in relation to the Senate spending scandal.

As two Senate security officials enter the room, Kinsella sits behind his wide wooden desk, framed by rows of identical red and black-bound books.

“Is the nature of the charge…?” he asks.

“I think it’s going to be fraud,” replies Gilles Duguay, director general of Parliamentary Precinct Services.

“All the elements of due process and natural justice will be followed,” Kinsella muses, further leaning back in his chair.

Just 40 minutes earlier, Kinsella’s driver was picking him up in a black Camry. Kinsella walked to the car clutching a thick binder labelled “Today” while his wife Ann waved goodbye from behind the curtain.

As he read from his Blackberry in the car, Kinsella listed off his jam-packed schedule: a courtesy call with the ambassador of Zimbabwe, a meeting with dairy farmers from his native province of New Brunswick, a reception in honour of former House of Commons speaker Peter Milliken.

“React to criminal charges” was not among the day’s events.

Then again, this is the Canadian Senate – one can’t help but think that regular days are pretty much over.

In between the rulings, the briefings and the courtesies, 74-year-old Kinsella now has to navigate all sorts of uncharted issues: Liberal senators evicted from the Liberal caucus; an ongoing audit of all senators’ expenses; this year’s Supreme Court decision on the early stages of Senate reform; and, yes, that whole RCMP investigation thing.

The Senate’s presiding officer, a grandfather-like figure with a head of white hair and gold-rimmed glasses, gets to talking about Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s decision to eject senators from the national caucus.

“I don’t understand it,” Kinsella says.

“I mean, I don’t understand the why. I don’t understand even the how. I don’t understand how this relates to our system of governance. The law of Canada provides for two houses. The law of Canada identifies a particular selection process.”

A senator’s viewpoint within a party is “extremely important and valuable,” the former human rights commissioner insists – noting that senators worked to get consensus on social justice legislation, such as amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act.

But does he understand current public opinion about the Senate – the disdain, the mistrust?

“Yeah. I think it’s based on ignorance,” he says.

“The average person does not study systems of governance, whether at the municipal, provincial or federal level. They’ve got a life to live.”

It’s fair to say the Senate has gotten more attention of late, and Kinsella is trying to be more open, acknowledging the upper chamber’s failure to communicate. He held two lengthy media availabilities on the Senate floor late last year, and agreed to allow a reporter to shadow him for a day.

His wife even packed said reporter a lunch – leftover ham on white, with mustard.

Kinsella is clearly proud of the institution he’s represented since 1990 and for the past eight years as speaker, stopping to explain the teak wood floors and handing out a “Words of Wisdom” booklet that explains the Latin inscriptions on the walls.

As he meets with officials from around the world as part of the Parliamentary Officers’ Study Program, Kinsella takes pains to point out it was the Senate that called in the RCMP to investigate.

“Parliamentary privilege is not to be used as a shield that would impede a police investigation, particularly an investigation that the Senate itself initiated in calling upon the police to look into the matter,” he tells the group of officials from Thailand, India and Kenya, among other countries.

Someone asks him why the Senate scandal happened.

“Well I’m not a good enough psychologist to know,” Kinsella replies.

“Whether it’s human nature or whether it’s that we don’t have tight enough guidelines and machinery … I don’t know. What is clear is the law. And we must live by the rule of law.”

Kinsella forsees an elected Senate, whether by direct or indirect appointments, with more representation in the West and an elected Speaker. He believes term limits are possible; they can be changed by amending the Parliament of Canada Act, not the Constitution, he says.

“I see all this as doable, hopefully in my lifetime. But not this year,” he chuckles.

He also, somewhat predictably, takes issue with calls for Senate abolition – from the NDP, specifically.

“All around the world the socialists are in the vanguard of protecting the people from the awesome power of the state,” he says. “And one of the barriers to the exercise of that awesome power is this nuisance called Parliament, and it’s doubly strong if you have two chambers.”

Around 6 p.m., well after question period and an internal economy meeting are over, Kinsella is back in his office, comparing the troubled institution to a convent.

Kinsella is apparently unperturbed when asked about the upcoming auditor general audit – expected by late this year or early next.

Is he worried it will find other senators claiming expenses they shouldn’t have?

“I don’t expect that’s going to be the result of the audit,” he says.

And this is where the nun analogy comes in.

“You could have auditors audit a convent of nuns and they’re going to find that Mother Mary went to the funeral of her sister, and they said, ‘Oh well you took that out of the convent funds,’ and they said ‘Well I’ve taken the vow of poverty where the heck am I going to go?’ … or that Mother Sally dropped Bishop Laval’s cup and it was only worth a million dollars. Well it was in the kitchen cabinet, well, don’t put valuable cups in the kitchen cupboard,” he says.

Is he saying there are too many temptations?

“We invited the auditor general to come in. We want him to look at the way in which we have been conducting the affairs of the Senate, which includes our travel expenses, where we go, why we go there. I just think that’s perfectly normal. And I don’t believe that we’re going to find any grand scheme of attempting to defraud,” he says.

“Whatever he’s able to find, I’m glad he finds it. It’s going to be dealt with. But you know any organization – including a convent of nuns – you can always improve your management.”

It’s time to go – another reception, followed by a dinner for Milliken.

“My advice,” Kinsella says as he makes his way to the door, “is to remain focused and do your Senate work.”