Canada PoliticsSenator Pamela Wallin vows to repay over $120k but calls audit process flawed and unfair
She'll pay back the money, but she's not happy about it.
On Monday, the Senate's internal economy committee and Senator Pamela Wallin were presented with the long-awaited Deloitte audit into the latter's expenses.
While the actual document won't officially be released to the public until Tuesday, media are reporting that Wallin must repay between $120,000 and $140,000 in improperly claimed travel costs.
Wallin addressed the media on Monday afternoon saying that she'll pay back the money plus interest from her own resources but criticized the process and the audit's findings.
Here are some excerpts from her statement:
"It is my view that this report is the result of a fundamentally flawed and unfair process.
When appointed to the Senate in 2009, I was determined to be an activist senator. One who saw it as her job to advance causes that are important to Canadians. When invited to appear publicly and speak on subjects including the role of women in public life, our mission in Afghanistan, support of our troops, I saw it as my duty to accept whenever I was able to do so.
Travel to these public speeches and appearances was, and is, in my continuing view, a legitimate Senate expense.
Deloitte has wrongly, in my view and in the opinion of my lawyers, applied the 2012 changes made to the Senators' travel policy retroactively.
The result is that 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.
The basis for this latter decision is apparently some arbitrary and undefined sense of what constitutes of Senate business or common Senate practice.
[ Related: What’s in store for Senators Duffy, Harb and Brazeau? ]
CTV News is reporting that auditors found approximately $120,000 of falsely claimed expenses which included trips for Tory fundraising and private business interests. Another $20,000 was flagged for the committee to review.
Auditors also claimed that Wallin retroactively amended her calendar once the audit had begun.
Wallin denied any maleficence in that regard.
"At no time did I intend to mislead Deloitte in anyway," she said as part of her statement.
"I was advised part way through the process that I should only include information relevant to the actual expenses being claimed. So we formatted our calendar accordingly."
[ Related: Senator Pamela Wallin says that she’s ‘too busy to vote’]
The Senate internal economy committee will prepare a report identifying the next course of action against Wallin. The former Conservative, now independent, senator will likely be asked to repay the money and her audit report could be forwarded to the RCMP.
The committee's recommendations are expected to be made public on Tuesday.
[ Related: Senator Wallin speaks: The media and the Twittersphere react ]
Meanwhile, the political maneuvering — in light of the audit — has already begun.
Earlier in the day — prior to Wallin's speech — the NDP released astatement on the matter tying Harper and the Conservatives to Wallin.
"Before he dumped Pamela Wallin from the Conservative Caucus, there was no greater defender of the sometime Saskatchewan Senator than Stephen Harper and his gang of ministers," the statement read.
"With the review of Senator Wallin’s expenses about to be revealed, we’ll see if the Prime Minister and his House Leader continue defending Ms. Wallin’s extravagant travel habits and misspending of taxpayer dollars. Canadians deserve better."
The Conservatives countered, with a statement of their own, distancing themselves from Wallin.
"Our Government will not tolerate the waste or abuse of the hard earned tax dollars of Canadians. We expect that any inappropriate expenses will be repaid. Senator Wallin is no longer a member of the Caucus and must be held accountable for her actions," read a statement by Conservative Senator Marjory LeBreton.
"These issues are coming to light because of actions we took to publicly release Senators’ expenses when we gained a majority in the Senate in 2010. We have subsequently taken steps to toughen rules governing Senate expenses."
"Our Government will continue to advocate for meaningful reform of the Senate – including elections, term limits and tough spending oversight. Canadians understand that our Senate, as it stands today, must either change, or like the old Upper Houses of our provinces, vanish."
(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)
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