Auditor General’s investigation criticizes improper claims, lack of oversight
The Canadian Senate- the so-called Chamber of sober second-thought- is going through a dark period.
Wracked by ongoing spending scandals and legal cases, the senate has come under fire again, this time from the Auditor General.
The Senate was founded on the basic presumption that the senators were honourable individuals, but the seemingly endless tales of abuse of taxpayers money has led many to call for an end to the institution.
30 senators flagged for improper expense claims.
This week Auditor General Michael Ferguson released a 116-page report which covered senators expense claims in the two-year period from April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2013.
The report looked at some 80,000 expense claims of 116 current and former senators, with 30 senators flagged for reimbursement contravening the Senates rules.
However, the report shows the rules are rather flexible, and even then, loosely enforced.
“As a group, senators are responsible for governing themselves and how the Senate functions. They design their own rules, choose whether to enforce those rules, and determine what, if any, information will be publicly disclosed.”
Some of the claims paid by Canadian taxpayers include a fishing trip, travel to attend a family members convocation, golf trips, trips to a tailor, personal taxi trips, and one senator’s own 50th wedding anniversary celebration, flights across the country to attend outside business meetings not connected with the Senate, out of province living expenses for senators deemed to in fact reside in the national capital, and “conflicting or insufficient information” for many other claims.
At a news conference announcing the release of the report, Ferguson said, “”struck by the overall lack of transparency and accountability”, adding, “A number of senators simply felt they didn’t have to account for, or they didn’t have to be transparent, with their spending,”
Of the expense claims totalling $45 million the audit estimates senators made ineligible claims costing taxpayers about $1 million.
The Auditor General has referred nine caes to the federal police for further investigation.
The report concludes that. “.. not all Senators’ expenses and other Senators’ transactions were properly controlled or incurred for parliamentary business and with due regard for the use of public funds.
“We urge the Senate to act on our recommendations and effect transformative change to the management and oversight of Senators’ expenses.”
Good news- “more than half the senate is not under investigation”
The senators were allowed to provide a 500 word written response to the report and several angrily called the report, “scurrilous” and “defamatory” and another said he was being unfairly persecuted.
One political commenter cheekily suggested looking at the positive side of the issue, saying that “ more than half the Senate is not under investigation”
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