Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, August 16, 2013

Auditor general set to probe Senate expenses

OTTAWA — Canada’s auditor general is readying his office for a Senate expense audit that will examine the spending practices of every member of the troubled upper chamber.

Michael Ferguson’s audit could take at least a year to complete, said a source familiar with the plan the auditor laid out earlier this week for the Senate’s internal economy committee.

The performance audit will look not only at individual senators, but also at how well the institution is managing its resources, said the source, who was unauthorized to disclose details and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an interview with Global News, Ferguson said his office would be looking at the expense claims of individual senators and “going through those on a specific basis.”

Ferguson said he expects to begin the audit shortly — a process that can take up to 18 months. And he’s leaving open the possibility of releasing initial findings long before the audit is completed.

“We haven’t come to that decision yet, but we understand that people don’t want to wait 18 months to get all the information,” the auditor general told Global. “So if there’s any way that we can do some interim reporting, we will do that.”

Meanwhile, it emerged Thursday that three former Conservative senators at the heart of the current spending scandal were given clear directions from their leader in the upper chamber that they could bill for certain partisan — that is, political — travel when they first arrived in the Senate.

The boot camp briefing was offered to the group of 18 senators appointed in late 2008 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a group that included senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau. Each is now under the spotlight for their spending claims — Duffy and Brazeau for housing expenses, and Wallin for travel — with auditors delivering withering reports.

The briefing involved advice from LeBreton, Sen. David Tkachuk, and Senate finance officials.

Such boot camps are routine for new senators. Both Liberal and Conservative senators used to attend a one-on-one briefing with former senator Sharon Carstairs, though the Tories stopped sending their senators to her after coming to government in 2006.

Travel for partisan events was addressed at the meeting with LeBreton and Tkachuk, but housing allowances were not specifically mentioned, said one Conservative senator who was present but declined to be named.

Tkachuk warned the freshmen senators to be careful about their spending, lest they land themselves and the institution in hot water. In early 2009, Tkachuk was made vice-chairman of the internal economy committee, the committee tasked with oversight of Senate spending, and the one that has overseen the audits of Duffy and Wallin.

Tkachuk told Postmedia News he informed senators, including Wallin, that it was OK to continue with their outside activities, such as being members of boards of directors, but not bill it back to the Senate.

“We should be involved in the community . . . but I wouldn’t have told (Wallin and others) to charge the Senate,” Tkachuk said.

Partisan activities, however, “are an inherent and essential part of the parliamentary functions” of a senator’s job, and they are entitled to bill the Senate for such work, Senate spending rules say.

Even so, this appears to be not entirely straightforward. The auditors scouring Wallin’s expenses noted that the Senate’s travel policy, finalized in 2012, says partisan activities “related to the work of the senator or the Senate” would be fully funded by the upper chamber, but “purely partisan matters such as election activities” couldn’t be charged to the Senate.

As an example, Wallin, Duffy and others were told that they could bill the Senate for expenses related to attending a constituency association meeting as a guest speaker, but not if they were going to the meeting just to attend and be seen.

Some senators were clearly less comfortable than others with expensing the Senate for partisan activities.

Wallin billed for some election campaign travel, which auditors rejected and felt should be reimbursed based on spending rules. Auditors also concluded that some events where Wallin was a speaker were  “purely partisan” events, explaining to the committee behind closed doors that they made judgment calls on items they didn’t think were clearly and obviously within the rules.

This is one reason Wallin takes issue with the audit report. “Travel expenses, which were approved and paid by Senate finance in 2009, in 2010, in 2011, have, in a number of cases, now been disallowed,” Wallin argued Monday as she criticized the auditors’ conclusions. ”The basis for this latter decision is apparently some arbitrary and undefined sense of what constitutes ‘Senate business’ or ‘common Senate practice.’ And by Deloitte’s own admission, no inquiries were made to other senators as to their definition or views on this subject.”

As an example, on Sept. 13, 2009, Wallin was a guest speaker at an annual fundraiser for Lisa MacLeod, an Ottawa-area Tory member of the provincial legislature. Wallin’s office told auditors she spoke about “women in politics, national defence and her role as a senator.” Auditors concluded Wallin should pay back the $608.45 spent on the trip, saying “it appears not to be Senate business, as it was a fundraising event.”

“Partisan activities are fine, but fundraisers are not,” said Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen, a member of the internal economy committee’s three-member executive. “I was always told to be careful about these things.”

Auditors also flagged a Jan. 17, 2011, event where Wallin was a guest speaker at a fundraiser for Kellie Leitch, who was then seeking the Conservative nomination in the Ontario riding of Simcoe-Grey. Wallin billed $119 in travel, a bill which auditors say is “subject to interpretation” by the committee. Also at the fundraiser was Sen. Hugh Segal, who said Thursday he did not bill the Senate for travel to the event.

“Senate rules and the Senate handbook always said that as senators are largely party members, legitimate partisan activity between elections unrelated to electing anyone, is normal. The auditors have used the new standards that prohibit filing travel expenses for any fundraising, to change the old partisan inclusion in acceptable activities,” Segal said. “This is what they were told were the new standards, so it’s not their fault.”

Senators who reviewed her audit, including senators Gerald Comeau and George Furey, argued the rules were clear and she should not have billed for the corporate travel, or for the party fundraising events.

“Most of the senators that I know on the Hill have a fairly good idea of what Senate business is and what private business is.  If she has difficulty with it, she or any senator . . . could come to the administration and seek guidance and seek advice,” Comeau, chairman of the internal economy committee, told reporters this week. “The principles of what the Senate has established as travel for Senate business is fairly straightforward.”

Wallin said she plans to repay whatever amount the internal economy committee decides. She has already repaid the Senate about $38,000 and the internal economy committee has recommended the Senate order Wallin repay about $82,000 plus interest, bringing her total repayment to about $121,000.

The committee has tasked Senate finance officials to dig up more information on several more claims flagged by auditors — about $21,000 in additional travel costs that they couldn’t say met or violated Senate spending rules, including some partisan events. The committee hasn’t yet made a decision on whether she will be asked to repay the funds.

Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: The Canadian Press Jordan Press 

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