Canada PoliticsSenators cut spending by $1.2 million after expense scandal surfaced: report
There might be a silver lining to the Senate expense scandal, after all.
Anecdotally, it seems that all the media attention has motivated our honourable senators to be a little more frugal with taxpayer dollars.
According to Postmedia News, senators spent a lot less on travel, staff and office expenses, in 2013, after the scandal erupted.
A Postmedia News analysis of senators' expense claims shows that 58 of the 88 senators who were members of the Senate in both 2012 and 2013 claimed less from March 1 to Aug. 31 than they had during those same six months in 2012. The Senate sat for five more days in the 2012 period. Thirtyeight senators trimmed spending by more than $10,000.
In total, senators spent a combined $1.2 million less from March to August than they had in the same period in 2012
Senator Mike Duffy, Postmedia notes, had the biggest drop in expenses. He spent a whopping $114,603.74 less from March to August 2013 than he did in the same period in 2012.
The full Postmedia report can be read here.
You can do your own analysis of senator expenses here.
[ Related: MPs need to go further to ensure expense scandals don’t happen again: taxpayer watchdog ]
Meanwhile, it appears that the scandals are having an effect on public opinion.
According to a new Angus Reid poll, released last Friday, 50 per cent of Canadians now believe that the red chamber should be abolished, while 43 per cent believe the Senate should be reformed. Only seven per cent are pleased with the status-quo.
Incidentally, that debate is now before the courts. On Tuesday the Supreme Court of Canada began three days of hearings on the federal government's reference about what it would take to either reform or abolish the Senate.
Those proceedings can be watched live at the CPAC website here.
(Photo courtesy the Canadian Press)
Are you a politics junkie?
Follow @politicalpoints on Twitter!
