WATCH ABOVE: Senator Marjory LeBreton was the head of the government in the Senate at the height of the spending scandal – and now she’s speaking out about what it was like during those difficult days. Mike Le Couteur reports.
OTTAWA – When the polls open in October, many Canadians might have the ongoing Senate scandal at the top of their minds — a fact that has one Conservative stalwart concerned.
LeBreton has spent more than 50 years in politics, working alongside Conservative prime ministers John Diefenbaker, Robert Stanfield, Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper. She has seen her share of scandals in that time and admits the issues of the upper chamber have been taxing.
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At the height of the spending scandal, LeBreton did her best to contain any damage to the party and the institution, assuring Canadians that now-suspended senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb were the exceptions to the rule, rogue members who didn’t represent the majority of the honourable senators in the upper chamber.
“It was extremely stressful – and I did lose sleep over it,” LeBreton said in a wide ranging exit interview ahead of her July 4 retirement.
When the Senate was in the midst of a maelstrom, with Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau and Harb at the centre, LeBreton called in auditors from Deloitte to examine the expenses of the four senators.
The move led to three being suspended from the Senate and Mac Harb retiring.
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LeBreton had her moments in the eye of the storm, especially when she found herself named in an RCMP report as one of those who helped whitewash a report on Duffy’s expenses.
But she maintains her innocence: “All of those claims will be absolutely refuted when the facts come out,” she said.
The long-time Conservative insists she was part of the solution not the problem.
Any solution, however, could have been in vain, with many saying at the time the damage was already done, questioning the integrity — and even the necessity — of the institution. Believing the worst was over a year into the scandal, though, LeBreton suggested the federal auditor general perform a forensic examination of all senators expenses.
Deep down, she said, she thought only a few senators would be flagged for minor spending issues.
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Almost immediately, however, she felt push back from her colleagues. In fact to this day, some members of the upper chamber still don’t speak to her.
“I was about as popular as a skunk at a garden party with some of them,” she said, recalling the time.
Being unpopular is one thing, but serious accusations were also lobbed her way. “Some of them even thought it was some Machiavellian plot to expose the Senate, to push the Senate reform agenda which is ridiculous.”
LeBreton admitted to second-guessing the decision to invite the auditor general in, but maintains she was only trying to help save the institution she has served since Brian Mulroney appointed her 22 years ago.
Months into the auditor general’s audit, she stepped down as government leader in the Senate and was replaced by Harper loyalist Claude Carignan.
No longer did she have to field reporters’ questions or explain certain decisions. Still, the decision to call in Auditor General Michael Ferguson and his team loomed large as her retirement drew closer.
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When the results of the audit were finally revealed in June the results had her floored.
“I must confess, I was a little surprised by the numbers … I guess ‘shocked’ would be a better word. Honestly, I was.”
The results flagged 30 senators for inappropriate spending, nine of which were recommended for review by the RCMP. All told, nearly a $1 million were deemed inappropriate expenses. Never did LeBreton fathom almost one-third of those audited would be singled out.
“There’s no joy in knowing that some of these people are going to face serious challenges in dealing with these things. They are human beings. I feel very badly for them, but what was done had to be done.”
From spending scandals to accusations of sexual misconduct, LeBreton has seen it all; yet she said she believes the Senate isn’t beyond salvation. To the critics who paint all senators with the same soiled brush, she says: “At the end of the day, it’s like any organization, you can’t legislate morality.”
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