In a report released on Tuesday, Auditor-General Michael Ferguson found that Canadians paid a number of senators to go on fishing trips, play golf, attend hockey games, go on holidays, own two homes or get a staffer to bring a personal car back home to Halifax from Ottawa.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
The Senate is defending the secrecy of the arbitration process that will allow senators to challenge the federal Auditor-General's findings on their expenses, despite the Red Chamber's recent promise of increased disclosure and oversight of its activities.
The salary of arbitrator Ian Binnie is being kept secret by the Senate administration, and the identity of those making presentations to the former Supreme Court of Canada judge will remain confidential.
It also remains unknown whether the Auditor-General and his staff will be asked to defend their findings and rebut the senators' arguments before Mr. Binnie. "The Office of the Auditor-General has not been invited to participate in the arbitration process at this point," the office said in a statement. "If such an invitation were made, it would be given due consideration."
The pressure on the Senate to open up is increasing on a number of fronts, as the news media and the lawyer for suspended senator Mike Duffy are trying to obtain a 2013 internal audit into the residency status of senators. Senate lawyers argued at Mr. Duffy's trial on charges of fraud on Thursday that the report should not be made public because of parliamentary privilege, a doctrine that shields legislative chambers from the courts.
In a report released on Tuesday, Auditor-General Michael Ferguson found that Canadians paid a number of senators to go on fishing trips, play golf, attend hockey games, go on holidays, own two homes or get a staffer to bring a personal car back home to Halifax from Ottawa.
The Senate referred the cases of nine senators to the RCMP, and called on 21 other current and retired senators to reimburse expenses that allegedly broke the rules.
Senate Speaker Leo Housakos, who has paid back $6,000 in expenses disputed by the Auditor-General, has promised "more disclosure, more oversight and better controls" of the institution's expense system.
At least 14 senators of the 30 senators named in the report have decided to take their cases before Mr. Binnie. However, the only element of the proceeding that will be made public will be the final ruling.
As part of his mandate, Mr. Binnie will be asked to determine whether the current and retired senators followed the Senate's rules, or whether they need to reimburse the disputed expenses.
The Senate administration refused on Thursday to state who will appear before Mr. Binnie to defend its requests for reimbursements. In addition, the arbitrator's remuneration is being kept secret.
"The contract with Justice Binnie is a legal contract and as part of the Senate's procurement policy, we do not disclose information about legal contracts," Senate spokeswoman Nancy Durning said in response to questions about the arbitration process.
"While the findings of the arbitration process will be made public, the appearance before Justice Binnie and legal representation of senators is confidential information."
After a week of bad publicity, several senators who are not among those named by the Auditor-General supported the closed arbitration process.
Liberal Senator Jim Munson said it will make it easier for people to be candid. "I think sometimes in this city we rush to judgment too fast on too many people," Mr. Munson said. "From my perspective, it is very fair."
But Conservative Senator Bob Runciman said he did not know that the arbitration would not be conducted in public. "Personally, I don't know why it couldn't be open," he said.
At least six senators or former senators have paid back the controversial claims to the government, the latest being Noël Kinsella, the retired speaker of the Senate.
Mr. Kinsella had expensed a trip to the funeral of his brother-in-law in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and faced questions on other travel expenses. In an interview, he said he felt he was bringing the "dignity of the office" when he attended the funeral of his relative, who he said was a respected community leader.
Although he feels he followed applicable rules, he made out a $9,386 cheque to the Receiver-General after reading the audit this week. "They did their job, I have no quarrel with their work," he said of the Office of the Auditor-General.
Besides Mr. Housakos, Claude Carignan, the Conservative leader in the Senate; Jim Cowan, the Senate Liberal leader; Conservative Senator Nicole Eaton; and retired Liberal senator Vivienne Poy have also made reimbursements.
The audit cost $23.5-million over two years as the Auditor-General's Office combed through 80,000 expense claims from 116 senators from 2011 to 2013. It identified $1-million in wrongfully claimed expenses.
The Senate will garnishee the salaries of sitting senators and take retired senators to court if they do not reimburse the amounts or submit to the binding arbitration process.
The arbitration is expected to start this summer, forcing Mr. Binnie to tackle the complex issue of Senate residency rules. Some senators spent most of their time in Ottawa, but still claimed expenses by arguing that their primary residence was in another province.
The Auditor-General said they should reimburse the amounts, recommending that the case of five senators in this situation be referred to the RCMP.