OTTAWA – The NDP wants the Conservatives to amend a Tory private member’s bill that strips away Parliamentary pensions from convicted criminals to include offences under the Canada Elections Act.
The bill from Conservative MP John Williamson – who served as both Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s director of communications and national director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation – would take away an MP or Senator’s full pension if he or she is convicted of one of 24 offences, including fraud, bribery or breach of trust.
The offences, all indictable, carry sentences of five years in prison. But the law would only apply to the specific crimes spelled out in the bill.
The legislation is expected to be debated for the final time in the House of Commons this week, and could be voted upon before Parliament takes its month-long winter break. It would then head to the Senate for study.
But NDP House leader Peter Julian is accusing the Conservatives of deliberately ignoring elections violations, in order to protect their own MPs such as Dean Del Mastro, who recently resigned after being found guilty of misspending in the 2008 election.
Extended: Dean Del Mastro addresses House of Commons
The Conservative members of a Parliamentary committee changed the bill less than a week after Del Mastro was convicted.
“This is a very deliberate way for the Conservatives to say, yes you can break rules…Serious violations of the Elections Act don’t matter, because we’re going to take care of you,” Julian said.
“And I think that’s despicable.”
Williamson’s bill originally included all offences with a maximum punishment of two years. He later expanded it to five years, but said in an interview he was worried that a broader scope would encapsulate offences that have nothing to do with a Parliamentarian’s work.
“I never intended the bill to be drafted in a way that would cause someone to accidently lose a pension for momentary lapse of judgement or for an offence that had nothing to do with their performance as a member of Parliament,” he said.
Williamson said the point of the bill is to ensure that anyone that misuses tax dollars, and was found guilty in a court of law, would lose a Parliamentary pension.
“Members have been nervous about my bill, concerned that people would, you know, make an honest error and find themselves without a Parliamentary pension,” he said.
“That’s not the point of the bill. So hence I’ve drafted it in a way now which is, here are the laws, that if you break these laws you will lose a pension.”
No cherry-picking
The bill would take away a Parliamentarians’ full pension but allow them to keep contributions plus interest.
Parliamentarians’ pension benefit is accrued at three per cent per year, to a maximum of 75 per cent, and is calculated on the average of the best five years.
MPs make a minimum of $163,700 per year, while Senators earn $138,700.
Julian has introduced several amendments to the bill, including re-adding any offence under any federal act that carries five years of jail – including elections laws.
He also wants a parliamentary review of the offences listed in the bill one year after it is adopted.
“It’s a big loophole and the amendments are designed to change that so that it is any serious conviction, including Elections Canada, is taken into consideration,” Julian said.
“The Conservatives don’t get to cherry-pick what laws members of Parliament can break that are serious in nature.”
Julian’s amendments wouldn’t, however, impact Del Mastro, who was prosecuted by summary offence and faces up to three years in prison for spending too much on his 2008 election campaign.
If passed, the bill could apply to retired Liberal MP and Senator Mac Harb, whose fraud and breach of trust trial begins in August.
But it would not apply to suspended former Conservative senators Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau, who have not earned their six years of service to be eligible for a Parliamentary pension after the government passed a law in June to freeze their pension time while on suspension.
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