Sen. Carolyn Stewart Olsen Promises To Pay Back Wrongly Claimed Expenses

OTTAWA — A Conservative senator with close ties to Prime Minister Stephen Harper is pledging to return money she says she should not have claimed as living expenses while she owned property in Ottawa.

After serving in Harper's PMO, Carolyn Stewart Olsen was appointed to the Senate on Aug. 27, 2009 to represent her home province of New Brunswick. But the long-time Ottawa resident — she moved to the capital in the 1980s to work as a nurse before serving as Harper's press secretary and later director of strategic communications — kept her Carling Avenue condo for nearly two years, before she sold it for $465,000 on May 2, 2011.

Senator denies report that she knew about Duffy-Wright deal

New questions are being raised about the $90,000 deal between Senator Mike Duffy and the Prime Minister’s former chief of staff, suggesting other people close to Stephen Harper may have known about the pact.

CTV reported Monday that Nigel Wright, who has since resigned his post as Mr. Harper’s top aide, consulted two Conservative senators while hatching the deal that would see him write a May 15 cheque to Mr. Duffy to, in effect, cover the $90,000 in housing expenses Mr. Duffy repaid.

High-profile senator with ties to Harper denies interference with Duffy report

OTTAWA - A high-profile Conservative senator who worked inside the Prime Minister's Office says she's upset about allegations that she sought to whitewash a report into the expenses claimed by colleague Mike Duffy.

And Carolyn Stewart Olsen is also drawing a distinction between her living arrangements and Duffy's: Both Maritime-born Tories claimed expenses on their longtime homes in Ottawa after being named to the Senate, but Stewart Olsen said she immediately made New Brunswick her primary residence.