Senators ordered to repay housing and mileage expenses

A Senate committee report released Thursday recommends that Liberal Senator Mac Harb and Independent Senator Patrick Brazeau repay housing and mileage claims for the past two years, and that their expenses should be monitored for the next year.

Harb resigned from the Liberal caucus Thursday and is mounting a legal challenge to have the report's conclusions about him quashed.

The report recommends that Harb must repay is $51,000 for housing and mileage claims dating from April, 2011, and Brazeau must repay $48,000. As well, Harb's expense claims will be audited for a seven-year period before 2011.

The report also noted that Conservative Senator Mike Duffy has already repaid money for housing expenses he submitted based on his claim that his primary residence is in P.E.I. The report explained that Duffy had written to the head of the Senate committee stating he "may have made a mistake" in filling out his expense forms. Duffy's claims will also be monitored for the next year.

Harb, Brazeau and Duffy claimed tens of thousands of dollars in housing allowance claims in recent years.

Brazeau, a former Conservative who now sits as an Independent, is currently suspended from the Senate over a criminal charge in a separate matter.

Harb announced immediately after the report was released that he has retained a lawyer. In a press release Thursday afternoon, Harb challenged the committee's assertion that he spent more days in Ottawa than in what he deemed his primary residence in Pembroke, and that, therefore, his principle residence is in Ottawa.

Related: Liberal Mac Harb disputes report he'll have to repay $100,000

Related: Senator Mike Duffy says he's repaid $90,000 in expenses

"This criterium is not found in Senate regulations or guidelines and has never been communicated to senators or implemented by financial officers," Harb's statement said.

The senators' expenses were investigated by the accounting firm Deloitte. The Senate committtee on internal economy, which monitors senators' expenses, made its recommendations based on that report.

The committee also recommends that rules around claiming per diems should change. Senators currently can claim a per diem for any day that they are in Ottawa, whether the Senate is sitting or not. That will change, so that per diems can only be claimed if the senators are in Ottawa for Senate business (when the Senate is sitting or to attend committee meetings for example), plus 20 extra days if they are in Ottawa for other activities related to Senate work.

Other areas where the rules will be tightened up include mileage and taxi claims. Receipts will now be required for all taxi use; previously, senators could claim $30 without a receipt.

It was the housing allowance claims being made by senators that first prompted the Senate to launch the review.

Since 2010, Harb has been claiming his primary residence is outside the capital, even though he had lived in Ottawa for decades before that time and owns several properties in the city. However, he says that he moved to a bungalow near Pembroke, Ont., about 145 kilometres from Ottawa and has been claiming expenses for maintaining what he says is a secondary residence near Parliament Hill he needs when he attends Senate sittings.

Related: 4 questions about the Senate expenses uproar

Related: Residency of senators

Senators who live more than 100 kilometres from Ottawa are allowed to claim housing expenses of up to $22,000 a year.

Harb's home near Pembroke is now for sale. He says he is selling the property because he has lost his right to privacy. He listed it about two weeks ago.

A media report Tuesday said Harb will be ordered to reimburse the taxpayers $100,000 for claiming expenses for housing and meals. However, Harb told CBC News he is "100 per cent confident" the Deloitte report will vindicate him.

Senator Brazeau is also being audited by Deloitte, because he claimed his primary residence is in his father's apartment in Maniwaki, Que.

Brazeau, however, also lives in a house in Gatineau, Que., just across the river from Ottawa.

Duffy is also under review by Deloitte. However, Duffy has already repaid the Senate $90,000 for claiming a house in P.E.I as his primary residence although he has been a longtime homeowner in Ottawa. Outside the Conservative caucus room Tuesday, he told reporters, "The process is working as it should."

A fourth senator, Pamela Wallin, is also being audited by Deloitte, but the firm has asked for more time to complete its report on her travel expenses between Ottawa and Saskatchewan.

The Senate has already passed new rules stating that senators must provide a driver's licence, health card and proof of where they pay provincial income tax before they can receive the $22,000 housing allowance.

Charlie Angus, the ethics critic for the NDP, asked in question period in the House of Commons Wednesday: "Will the government promise to turn over tomorrow's internal Senate audit to the police to ensure that there at least be some investigation of the senators who have been ripping off the Canadian taxpayers? At least do that."

Liberal Senate House leader Jim Cowan told reporters that he was disappointed that the Senate committee had not recommended disciplinary action against the three senators other than reimbursement of funds inappropriately claimed.

Cowan pointed out, when asked if the committee should have referred the matter to the police, that the report is public and the RCMP can read it and make its own decisions about opening an investigation.

The full Senate must decide whether to accept the committee's report.