Senator Pamela Wallin says that she’s ‘too busy to vote’

Senator Pamela Wallin keeps digging herself a bigger hole.

The Globe and Mail has obtained a May 2013 letter from Wallin to Senate administration explaining that she didn't vote in the past municipal, provincial or federal elections because of her busy schedule. Wallin's disclosure was part of a probe to ensure the validity of senators' primary residence declarations.

"As requested, we are updating information for the Primary and Secondary Residences Declaration," notes the letter.

"I have not been able to vote in the last federal, provincial or municipal elections due to the travel and work schedule."

She didn't have time to vote?

This is a sitting legislator and, as such, is supposed to uphold and promote the values of democracy of which voting is a central element.

It's an argument that just doesn't wash: In Saskatchewan — which is supposed to be her primary residence — there were 6 voting days: One election day and 5 advance voting days.

There's also something called absentee voting.

Either Wallin doesn't care about voting in Saskatchewan or doesn't spend enough time in there: She continues to claim that she spends 168 days a year her home province.

[ Related: Pamela Wallin lives 'a lucrative life' outside the Senate: report ]

The other snippet from Wallin's letter that has raised eyebrows is this:

In a statement emailed to Yahoo! Canada News, Wallin staffer Mark Fisher says that his boss has a Saskatchewan health card.

"Today’s Globe and Mail runs a story by Kim Mackrael which Senator Wallin considers to be false and defamatory," he wrote.

"The headline on an early online version of today’s story, which said that Senator Wallin doesn’t have a health card, was false. She has a Saskatchewan health card."

Fisher didn't respond to follow-up email asking why Wallin's letter — from May — said that she didn't have one.

The health card issue is significant because it would give credence to Wallin's argument that her primary residence is, in fact, in Saskatchewan; that province's Health Ministry requires residents to be physically in the province for at least six months each year to be eligible for provincial health benefits.

Wallin — who is under fire for claiming more than $375,000 in travel claims in just two years — is now being investigated by an outside auditor commissioned by the Senate. Deloitte's report is expected to be released some time this summer.

In a recent interview with CBC's Peter Mansbridge, the much-maligned senator admitted to making mistakes on her expense claims blaming them on a mountain of paper work, no direct flights from Ottawa to Saskatchewan and her "speaking engagements" across the country.

[ Related: Senator Wallin speaks: The media and the Twittersphere react ]

NDP MP Charlie Angus succinctly summed up the Wallin mess on his Facebook page on Wednesday morning.

"These poor, hapless senators — they can't fill out housing forms because they are too complicated, they don't have health cards," he wrote.

"And yet they are there to review complex legislation. Hmmm...."

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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