OTTAWA – It seems only three senators know why Sen. Pamela Wallin owes another $17,622 in expenses – and they’re not talking.
That means the public and 97 members of the upper chamber are in the dark about why Wallin’s expenses – first approved by the Senate as far back as January 2009 – have now been deemed unacceptable.
The Senate’s three-member internal economy steering committee announced this week Wallin owes another $17,622 out of $20,978 in travel expenses that were “subject to interpretation and determination” by a Deloitte audit.
Not even fellow members of the larger internal economy committee know which of the expenses, mostly billed for “Senate business,” must be repaid and why.
It’s also unclear why another $3,356 of those expenses were allowed.
Wallin now owes a grand total of $138,970. She already paid back $38,369 before the audit was released, so will owe about just over $100,000 more.
The senators who made the decision – Conservative chair Sen. Gerald Comeau, Conservative Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen and Liberal Sen. George Furey –aren’t answering questions.
“Apologies…I am traveling and will have to leave this for the Chair to respond,” Stewart Olsen wrote in an email.
Neither Comeau nor Furey responded to requests sent over two days. Senate communications said no further information is available.
NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said the Senate needs to explain which expenses should be repaid, and why.
“I think the Senate are making things up as they go along,” said Angus.
“We’re talking about an extraordinary amount of money that was ripped off from the taxpayers, that was approved by the Senate, that was rubber-stamped and paid by the Senate, and now they’re saying it’s wrong but they won’t tell us any of the details.
“Canadians deserve to know so we can begin to find out whether or not this is a pattern that other senators have been using.”
Wallin’s lawyer, Terrance O’Sullivan, did not respond to request for comment, but his voicemail said he was away from the office this week.
Exactly what constitutes Senate business has come under the microscope this summer.
In a public statement made before the audit was released, Wallin said Deloitte wrongly applied changes made in 2012 to senators’ travel policy to her expenses retroactively.
“The basis for this latter decision is apparently some arbitrary and undefined sense of what constitutes ‘Senate business’ or ‘common Senate practice’ and – by their own admission – no inquiries were made of other Senators as to their definition or views on the subject,” she said.
Wallin said she never intended to seek reimbursement for travel expenses when she did not believe such a claim was proper. She has vowed to pay the money back with interest.
Among Wallin’s travel claims subject to interpretation were networking events such as meeting with a Canada Post executive and dinner with a representative from a program that helps low-income youth.
Global News contacted 17 senators listed as either full-time members or replacements on the internal economy committee to see if they had more details about Wallin’s extra expenses.
Only six senators personally replied: Conservative Sens. Elizabeth Marshall, Vernon White and David Tkachuk; Liberal leader in the Senate James Cowan and Liberal Sens. Marie-P. Charette-Poulin and Jim Munson.
Representatives for Liberal Sen. Larry Campbell and Conservative Sen. Claude Carignan replied to Global, but not the senators themselves.
None had details about Wallin’s extra expenses.
Conservative Sen. Elizabeth Marshall said in an email she did not know which items comprised the $17,622 figure.
When asked how fellow senators are supposed to know what’s acceptable or not, Marshall replied: “Senator Comeau would be the best one to speak about this.” He did not return calls or emails.
Tkachuk, who used to chair the committee and still sits as a member, said the details have not been shared but he expects the steering committee will release them “soon.”
In emails, Cowan and White said they didn’t have the information, with White only sitting as a replacement on the committee for two days. Poulin said she was “unable to answer” questions about the expenses.
Munson, who was replaced on the committee during the Wallin examination by Liberal Sen. Terry Mercer because he was out of town for a conference, said “he hopes to learn more” from his committee colleagues.
Auditor General Michael Ferguson told Global News last week that his office plans to review each senator’s expenses.
“Now, what we’re going to be doing is looking at individual senators, the claims of individual senators and going through those on a specific basis,” he said.
Angus said he hopes Ferguson has the authority to do a full examination of individual expenses.
“I don’t think anything less is acceptable,” said Angus.
The senators who did not reply to questions about Wallin’s repayment were: Conservatives Janis Johnson, Noel Kinsella, Marjory LeBreton (whose office said she was away), Norman Doyle and Larry Smith; and Liberal Sens. Jane Cordy (whose office said she was away), Percy Downe, and Mercer.
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