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Duffy, Brazeau and Wallin in Senate as debate on their suspensions begin

Independent Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau were all in attendance in the upper chamber, on Tuesday, as debate began on Conservative party motions to suspend them without pay for "gross negligence" of their Parliamentary budgets.

[ Related: Pamela Wallin's lawyer threatens legal action against possible Senate suspension ]

As of 4:30 pm (EST), none of the three maligned politicians had yet had the opportunity to address their colleagues.

Last week, Wallin's lawyer Terrence O'Sullivan indicated that they would indeed fight the motion.

"It is backroom politics at its transparent worst and it's designed to create the impression of a clean slate for the Tory convention in Calgary next week," he told the Canadian Press.

"It's a fundamental affront to Canadian democracy."

And, on Monday, Duffy's lawyer told reporters that they too would consider legal action if the senator from PEI was suspended.

"At my insistence, Senator Duffy and his wife Heather have maintained silence in the face of allegations made concerning Senator Duffy's senate living allowance and expense claims," Donald Bayne said in an explosive press conference.

"Now, however, the Senate or at least the Conservative majority whipped by their leader intends to act like a mob to sentence Senator Duffy without a hearing. Without knowing the evidence and without strangely waiting for the very RCMP investigation which they called for."

[ Related: Duffy’s lawyer suggests PMO pressured senator into taking repayment deal ]

Should the motions pass as introduced last week, the suspensions would last for the duration of this session, which conceivably be until the next election in 2015.

But as CBC News World's Hannah Thibedeau reported, the motions could be amended.

"There are...rumours that the Liberals will put forward an amendment to these motions to potentially have hearings for the these three before the motions are put forward," she said.

"[The Conservative caucus] may be ordered to vote along party lines. This is extremely significant because of the Conservatives are told to vote in favour of the motions you're going to see a split in the caucus."

Following the midday caucus meetings, the only Conservative who took the time to speak with media was maverick Senator Hugh Segal.

"We're establishing the principle of pre-trial sentencing, we're establishing the principle of guilty until proven innocent, and that is not how we operate in the British system," he told reporters according to the Canadian Press.

"There are parts of the world that operate that way; we don't, and I think it's important that we stick to that principle."

Several Liberal senators — who have been given the okay to vote according to their consciences — suggested they would be voting against the suspensions.

"It's not a process that I'm used to from where I come from," Senator Romeo Dallaire said.

"I want to see people go through proper process, no matter what the institution, and certainly no matter what the politics are. After that, if we're a country that believes in human rights and justice, then we can at least face each other in an appropriate fashion — not the way we're going about it now."

A vote on the motions is not expected to happen on Tuesday.

[ Related: Will Mike Duffy and the Senate scandal topple the Tory government? ]

While all the drama gets publicly played out in Ottawa, the RCMP continue their investigations into the three senators' (plus retired Senator Mac Harb's) expenses.

Wasn't a high profile cabinet shuffle, the prorogue of parliament and a mega trade deal with Europe all supposed to change the channel on the Senate scandals?

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