The Senate has taken the first steps toward initiating legal action against a group of former senators who owe over half a million dollars.
According to a statement from the offices of Senator Leo Housakos and Senator Jane Cordy, the chair and deputy chair of the Senate budget committee, the law clerk has been instructed to seek outside legal counsel to begin legal action.
Midnight on Friday was the deadline for seven former senators to repay almost $528,000 in claims the federal auditor general ruled should never have been charged to taxpayers. However, one former senator is being granted a couple of extra days to pay, as he or she did not receive notice at the same time as the others, according to a Senate source.
The seven were among 30 senators flagged in the June 2015 report, but none chose to challenge the decision through an independent arbitration process.
The last of the senators who owed money after the arbitration process headed by former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie repaid the Senate for the wrongfully-claimed expenses at the start of the week.
READ MORE: Mike Duffy trial: Duffy’s acquittal resonates in the Senate
“The Senate has recouped all monies from sitting Senators,” reads the statement from Housakos’ and Cordy’s offices.
“The Senate has been clear about its intention to take legal action in order to recoup any monies owing by non-sitting Senators.
To that end, the Senate Law Clerk has been instructed to seek outside legal counsel to initiate such action.”
The former senators with outstanding expense claims are: Sharon Carstairs, Marie Charette-Poulin, Rose-Marie Losier-Cool, Don Oliver, Bill Rompkey, Gerry St. Germain and Rod Zimmer.
The expenses in question are not all that different from the ones that landed Senator Mike Duffy in court.
READ MORE: Mike Duffy regains access to Senate office and resources after acquittal
Duffy was cleared of 31 criminal charges by Ontario Court Judge Charles Vaillancourt on Thursday, ending a three-year saga with his expenses and allowing him back into the Senate with all the rights and privileges of his colleagues.
Vaillancourt ruled that Duffy’s expenses didn’t enter the realm of criminality even though they may raise eyebrows, including a consulting contract with his one-time personal trainer. The Senate’s administrative rules allowed such spending, the judge said.
Some of those rules have since been updated, in particular those dealing with proof of primary residence and some rules dealing with travel. The Senate is also in the review and approvals stage of adopting a more proactive expense disclosure model, and is looking into independent oversight, according to a backgrounder sent from Housakos’ office.
With files from Mike Le Couteur and the Canadian Press