Canada PoliticsNDP proposes to choke off funding for the Senate
The New Democrats are milking the growing anti-Senate sentiment.
Can you really blame them?
Earlier this year, they tried, without success, to pass a motion to abolish the Senate. They've now introduced a proposal, via, order paper, to cut off its spending.
“That all funding should cease to be provided to the Senate beginning on July 1, 2013.”
The motion, to be debated in the House on Wednesday, was put forward by NDP Treasury Board critic Mathieu Ravignat.
"Essentially it's to cease funding the Senate by July 1," he told Yahoo! Canada News.
"Our main concern for now is the lack of transparency and accountability in Senate expenses and we think it's gone far enough that it's time to cut the umbilical cord."
[ Related: Senator Mike Duffy mused about becoming a minister ]
Unlike a move to abolish the Senate, Ravignat doesn't think his proposal requires a constitutional amendment.
"What we're asking this government to do is to just ignore that and give zero funding to the Senate," he said.
"There's nothing anti-constitutional about cutting off or not voting to give the Senate a budget. "
Ravignat, however, is not under any illusions that the Conservatives and Liberals will support it.
"What I think is important that this motion will allow us to have a wholesome debate in the Commons about spending on the Senate, accountability on the senate, appropriate funding for the Senate," he said.
"And also we'll see how the different parties around the table defend or not defend this kind of spending [and] remind Canadians that it's $90 million which is not negligible.
"And we certainly should be having the debate on the appropriateness of that funding after all of these scandals."
The NDP proposal comes amid continuing drama surrounding the Senate expense scandal and specifically Nigel Wright's $90,000 gift to Senator Mike Duffy so that he could reimburse taxpayers for falsely claiming a Senate living allowance.
The federal ethics commissioner, the Senate ethics office are investigating the money transfer while the RCMP is reviewing the money transfer and the expenses of Senators Duffy, Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau.
[ Related: Liberals ask for a public inquiry into the Senate scandal ]
Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, Senator Marjory LeBreton — the Conservative leader in the Senate — is expected to put forward a motion to ask the Auditor General for a "comprehensive" audit of Senate expenses.
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