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[BC省新聞] Who were the top 10 spenders in Senate
Who were the top 10 spenders in Senate? Retired B.C. senator leads the way
Call to clear up rules covering housing, travel
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/politics/were+spenders+Senate/8011173/story.html#ixzz2LvGjHNI4
Two recently retired senators, and two current senators who are being audited for their expense claims, were among the top 10 spenders in the red chamber in 2012, a Postmedia News analysis concludes.
Gerry St. Germain, a Conservative who retired in November, was the top spender ($378,292), while Liberal Robert Peterson, who retired in October, landed in the fifth spot ($320,234). Sen. Pamela Wal-lin, whose travel expenses are being audited, ranked second-highest in overall spending ($369,593), while Sen. Mike Duffy, another senator whose expenses are being audited, was ninth ($298,310).
The top 10 spending list is rounded out by Sens. Terry Mercer, James Cowan, Nick Sibbeston, Fabian Manning, Bert Brown and Pana Merchant.
Three of the top spenders - Wal-lin, Peterson and Sen. Pana Merchant - are from Saskatchewan, the most heavily represented province in the analysis of top spenders, which was based on quarterly expense reports for the 12 months from Dec. 1, 2011 to Nov. 30, 2012. These dates were selected because they represent the most recent one-year period for which public records are available.
The analysis was done as four senators are being audited, and as one of them, Duffy, has just volunteered to repay his housing allowance, saying he may have made a mistake by claiming it. The Senate will consider what to do about his offer this week.
Although St. Germain and Peterson have been retired for months, Senate rules permit them to claim expenses for up to two months after their retirement date.
Postmedia News contacted each senator on the Top 10 list for information on their spending. Many did not respond. Those who did said the numbers often don't tell the whole story. St. Germain and Peterson could not be contacted.
Wallin's expenses are being audited in what has been described as a series of random audits, ordered in the wake of an earlier auditor general's report that found shortcomings in Senate spending oversight. The results of that audit will be made public, as will audits into how three senators - Duffy, Sen. Mac Harb and Sen. Patrick Brazeau - used tens of thousands of dollars in housing allowances.
"Spending in the Senate is kind of like a black hole. We know what goes in, but we don't know what comes out," said Prof. David McGrane, an expert on federal politics from the University of Saskatchewan.
"Maybe all these people are all using money for legitimate public business, but maybe they aren't - who knows? We're entering a new era of public accountability when it comes to spending for public officials and people want to know what their publicly elected officials are spending money on."
McGrane said that until the Senate becomes more forthcoming about the purpose of its expenses, the public will question how the largely unelected body is working for Canadians.
In a recent poll for Postmedia News, only 22 per cent of Canadians said they are content with the Senate as is; 78 per cent said they would rather see it reformed or abolished.
"Some of these people (senators) spend all this money yet have such extremely low public profiles," McGrane said. "There are some that I understand - Bert Brown, Duffy, Wallin, even St. Germain and (Liberal House leader James) Cowan - some of these guys do have a public persona going because they're out and about. But these other people - Peterson, Merchant - I don't know what they're doing."
Neither, at times, does the Senate itself. For instance, the Senate is reviewing whether the spending claims it receives on living expenses in the national capital - allowed for those whose primary residence is more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill - include claims for food, which would clear up how much money senators have actually used on housing itself. As well, the category of claim called "other travel" expenses may encompass layovers en route to the senators' home provinces, which Wallin says contributes to her high costs.
As well, that travel category may include senators using their travel allowances to fly family or staff around the country; it is currently unclear.
Cowan, the Liberal party leader in the Senate, said ambiguities in the rules must be cleared up fast, and audits now underway into senator spending must be finalized for the sake of all senators, not just those who are the targets of the probe. |
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發表於 2013-2-25 06:51
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