Expense It!

The venerable Senate of Canada, with its ornate interior and red plush colour scheme is home to debate and political wisdom reflected by the presence of individuals who have contributed in some manner to the well-being of the country and who have been appointed as senators by the Prime Minister of Canada. The august chambers appear as testimony to the guiding hand of collective wisdom, complementing the parliamentary lawmaking of the House of Commons.

The Senate, as the Upper House, is comprised of 105 provincial representatives, formally enlisted by the Governor General of Canada, as the Queen's representative, after having been invited to accept a proposed appointment by the prime minister of the day. The chamber has been called often the "chamber of sober second thought". But lately its repute has been called into question with revelations of behaviour unbecoming to exemplars of sober second thought.






Three currently serving senators, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau are being investigated by outside auditors for their expense claims relating to housing. Claiming their primary places of residence to be outside the required 100-kilometre distance of the National Capital, with properties owned elsewhere representing their primary residences, even though they all reside in Ottawa and have done so with properties they have owned for a significant period of time.

Other senators have been cited for claiming extravagant-seeming expenses related to their travel on senate business, such as Senator Pamela Wallin's claim of over $320,000 in returning to her home province of Saskatchewan and back again to Ottawa. There have been other, additional issues that have proved to be embarrassing to the Senate, of activities unrelated to expenditures, but appearing somewhat bizarre for the behaviour of those whom the public take to be sedately elderly.

With Senator Pierre-Hughes Boisvenu, revelations have served to place him both in the category of questionable expense claims, and bizarre behaviour. Unless society has become so philosophical of human nature in all its glorious emotional absurdities that a philanderer's activities are considered reasonable for inclusion in expense account claims.  But then, the senator has stated he is prepared to repay $900 in "mistakenly" claimed housing allowances.

The Senate's administration, including his peers on an oversight committee, felt he was not obligated to repay that sum, but he submitted a cheque for $907 anyway. Some better angel must have shunted aside the devil whispering in his other ear, and recommended repayment.  Of course, Senator Boisvenu's $900 pales in comparison to Mike Duffy's questionable claims of $90,000....

On the other hand, 64-year-old Senator Boisvenue's claim for secondary housing allowance is a little, let us say ... different. He claims his primary residence to be a condo in Sherbrooke, Quebec which he visits twice monthly during a period where he and his wife are undergoing divorce proceedings. Normal enough. Senator Boisvenue has claimed housing allowance to cover the cost of staying with an Ottawa-area friend.

Senate rules are such that senators may claim roughly $30 per day while staying with family or friends in the capital. And Senator Boisvenue felt he fit the category for a thirty-day period, when he was "transitioning to new accommodations" over the summer. The friend he happened to be staying with was his office assistant, a woman he was romantically involved with.

This is a plot that is quite thick with possibilities for a puckishly roguish novel - something along the lines of "Yes, Minister".