Sen. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu gave a cheque to the Senate’s administration Thursday for $907, even though the Senate’s administration — and his fellow senators on an oversight committee — said he did not have to.
Meanwhile, there has not yet been a cheque from Sen. Mike Duffy, who pledged late last month to repay housing claims he had made against his longtime home in an Ottawa suburb. Duffy has not formally told the Senate’s internal economy committee when or how he will repay the approximately $90,000 in housing claims he has made since entering the Senate in 2009. He has said he made a mistake on his claims and plans to repay the allowance.
Postmedia News could not reach Duffy late Thursday.
In the case of Boisvenu, Montreal-based La Presse reported this week that the 64-year-old claimed a secondary housing allowance while saying his primary residence was a condo in Sherbrooke, Que. He owns and visits the condo twice a month while he and his wife go through divorce proceedings.
Boisvenu had used his housing allowance money to cover the costs of staying with a friend in the Ottawa area while he was, according to a news release, “transitioning to new accommodations” over the summer.
Senate rules allow senators to claim about $30 per day if they stay with family or friends in the capital, something Boisvenu did for just over 30 days.
The friend he was staying with happened to be a woman he was romantically linked with and who was also his office assistant. Conservative senators gave conflicting messages this week about the status of the relationship between the two, with two Quebec senators stating that the assistant, Isabelle Lapointe, was no longer working in Boisvenu’s office and another saying his colleagues were mistaken.
A senator with knowledge of the situation said Senate staff overseeing the claims didn’t verify that the person Boisvenu was staying with was Lapointe (Boisvenu had hired her as his executive assistant in August 2010). The expenses were never brought to the attention of the Senate committee charged with oversight of expenses.
“Everything I did was within the rules. While I was transitioning to new accommodations in summer 2012, I stayed for a short period of time with an individual with which I had a relationship. While this was within the rules, I feel uncomfortable with the claim and have fully repaid $907,” Boisvenu said in a statement Thursday night.
“This is important for me as I do not want there to be any doubt about the expenses related to my work as a senator.”
Duffy’s claims, along with Sen. Mac Harb and Sen. Patrick Brazeau, are currently in the hands of outside auditors who are expected to submit a report by the end of March. Late last month, the Senate’s internal economy committee cleared 95 senators in a probe of housing claims – including Boisvenu.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Jordan Press
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