ABOVE: Senator Pamela Wallin’s lawyer is enraged about the prospect of his client being suspended from the Upper House without pay.
OTTAWA – Senator Pamela Wallin’s lawyer says she is being deprived of her livelihood and compares her treatment in the upper chamber to that of a third world dictatorship.
Wallin is facing suspension from the upper chamber without pay for up to two years, along with fellow independents Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau.
Her lawyer Terrence O’Sullivan said he is outraged.
“She’s now being deprived of her position in the Senate, of her livelihood. That job is being taken away from her without any due process. That couldn’t happen to any other Canadian, in any other job, but it’s happening here,” he said.
“This is the way third world dictatorships deal with political rivals.”
O’Sullivan said Wallin deserves a full public hearing in the Senate.
“If they want to suspend her, they should do so after she’s had the full opportunity to answer the allegations in the motion, to see what evidence they rely on, and to cross-examine their witnesses, and bring evidence of our own,” he said.
READ MORE: Senate motion put forward to suspend Duffy, Brazeau and Wallin
“That is what would happen in any court across the country, in any process, for any person who’s employed. And it’s not happening here.”
On Thursday, Sen. Claude Carignan, the government leader in the Senate, signalled he would move three motions to remove Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau from the upper chamber due to their “gross negligence in the management of parliamentary resources.” They would also lose Senate expenses and resources.
The motions will be introduced on Tuesday.
All three senators were ordered to repay tens of thousands of dollars in ineligible living and travel expenses, and saw the matter referred to the RCMP.
Wallin’s bill came to nearly $139,000.
Carignan’s spokesman said the “gross misconduct” of the senators requires a strong response.
“By introducing a motion to suspend these Senators without pay, the Leader of the Government in the Senate is sending a strong message: the conduct of these three Senators is unacceptable,” spokesman Sébastien Gariépy said in an email.
O’Sullivan said Wallin has not been charged with any crime and the presumption of innocence should apply.
“Where is the conclusion that she’s been guilty of gross negligence?” he said.
“This isn’t Canada, this isn’t the way we do things in Canada. We respect process and we respect rights.”
O’Sullivan said when Wallin was called before the internal economy committee concerning a Deloitte audit into her expenses, he wasn’t allowed to ask questions or cross-examine the auditors.
“It was Kafkaesque. It made a mockery of the right to council,” he said.
He said he believes the Conservatives are trying to solve their political embarrassment by exiling Wallin.
“This is about politics. It’s about trying to get rid of Senator Wallin before the Conservative convention next weekend,” he said.
At this point, O’Sullivan said he is not ruling out legal action on behalf of his client.
“There are no options off the table. But if this was designed to silence us, it will not.”
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