Senate chair refuses more info on Pamela Wallin expenses

OTTAWA – The chair of a closed-door Senate committee that ordered Senator Pamela Wallin to repay an extra $17,622 is refusing to provide a single detail about the expenses – unless fellow senators tell him to.

Conservative Senator Gerald Comeau, one of three senators on the Senate’s internal economy steering committee, said in an interview he can’t release details about which expenses Wallin has to repay and why.

“I’m not going to go there,” said Comeau.

“If the Senate wants to open these things up, that’s for the Senate to decide.”

The extra money relates to expenses outlined in a Deloitte audit of Wallin’s travel over a three-year period.

The audit found $121,348 of Wallin’s expenses between Jan. 1, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2012 should be repaid.

But auditors left another 31 claims, totaling $20,978,  “subject to interpretation” by the Senate’s steering committee. The committee also includes Conservative Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, and Liberal Sen. George Furey.

Of the $20,978, the steering committee determined $17,622 should be repaid, for a grand total of $138,970.  Most of the claims were described only as “Senate business.”

That means $3,356 of the claims were allowed – but senators and the public won’t know which ones are acceptable or not.

And they may never.

“I’m not going to do it. I’m going to need the authority of the Senate to do it, to open up claims, those that are ineligible and those that are not,” said Comeau.

“That is not up to me.”

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.

Wallin’s lawyer, Terrance O’Sullivan, said the committee made no inquiries with Wallin or her lawyer during their analysis of her expenses.

“We have profound concerns about the interpretation of what constitutes Senate business and Senate expenses,” he said.

Wallin has called the audit flawed and unfair, but said she would repay what she owed.

According to Senate policies and rules, members of the upper chamber can request reimbursement for travel expenses if the travel was incurred as a consequence of “Parliamentary” or “Senate business.”

But there is no strict delineation between what constitutes “personal” and “Senate” business.

“Senate resources shall not be used to fund travel that is incurred to pursue the private business or personal interests of a senator,” according to Senators’ Travel Policy, the document outlining rules regarding travel.

Auditor General Michael Ferguson plans to review each senator’s expenses, but it is unclear how detailed his audit will get.

Comeau said he’s concerned that by releasing details of Wallin’s expenses, it could put a chill on people meeting with senators in the future.

“If we make this public who the parliamentarians meet with, it kind of dries up the desire for people…to meet with their parliamentarians, if suddenly the next morning it’s in the newspapers,” he said.

Comeau said if senators wish to revisit the issue of Senate business in the fall, he is open to discussing it.

“The senators may then say, look, give us examples of what is allowed and not allowed. Give us more examples, give us more direction,” he said.

“And that is the approach that I would suggest, rather than starting to make open all claims at this point.”

– with files from Amy Minsky