The Canadian Senate expenses scandal, also known as Duffygate, was a political scandal concerning the expense claims of certain Canadian senators which began in late 2012. Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, and Pamela Wallin claimed travel and living allowance expenses from the Senate for which they were allegedly not eligible. Deloitte LLP was retained to provide the Senate with an independent examination of the expense claims. Duffy, Harb, and Wallin repaid ineligible amounts. Harb retired a few months into the scandal, and in November 2013, Brazeau, Duffy, and Wallin were suspended from the Senate without pay. Brazeau, Duffy, and Harb were criminally charged. On April 21, 2016, Duffy was acquitted on all charges. Charges against Harb were withdrawn and no charges were to be laid against Wallin. The scandal attracted much public attention, with as many as 73% of Canadians following it closely. Many said that the scandal impacted the 2015 Canadian general election.
Another result of the scandal was that the Auditor General of Canada examined the expense claims made by all the other 116 senators and former senators over a two-year period. In a June 2015 report, the Auditor General identified thirty senators whose claims were inappropriate, and of these, recommended that nine cases be referred for police investigation. Fourteen of these senators opted for binding arbitration by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie, and his report was issued on March 21, 2016.
Overview The investigation of senator expenses began in November 2012 with the living expense claims of Patrick Brazeau and the travel expense claims of Pamela Wallin. By December 6, 2012, the Senate investigation was expanded to include the living expenses of Mac Harb. On January 3, 2013, the Senate formally retained Deloitte LLP to review the claims of Brazeau, Harb and Wallin. In February 2013, the Deloitte retainer was expanded to include Mike Duffy's living expense claims.
In March 2013, and before the Deloitte audit was complete, Duffy repaid $90,172 for the living expenses he had claimed. It was later learned in May 2013 through the media that the source of this money was a personal cheque provided by Nigel Wright, who was then Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister's Office.
On May 9, 2013, the Senate released reports about the expenses of Brazeau, Duffy and Harb, along with Deloitte's reports. It acknowledged Deloitte's finding that the criteria for determining a senator's primary residence were lacking. However, the intent and purpose of Senate policies for reimbursement of living expenses were "amply clear" and so Brazeau and Harb were ordered to repay living expenses. On August 13, 2013, the Senate released Deloitte's report on the expenses of Wallin and she was ordered to repay travel expenses. As of July 25, 2013, Harb still maintained his innocence.
It emerged that the Conservative-dominated Senate committee had drafted the May 9 report on Duffy's living expenses to reflect less poorly on Duffy, who was at that time a member of the Conservative caucus. After two weeks of controversy, and amid concerns that Duffy was claiming travel expenses from both the Senate and the Conservative Party, the Senate reopened Duffy's audit. On May 29, 2013, the Senate issued a report amending the May 9 one, and recommending that Duffy's case be referred to "the proper authorities."
In the months following, many of Canada's political parties reiterated their positions that the Senate should be reformed or abolished. On February 1, 2013, the Harper government sought clarification from the Supreme Court of Canada on the federal government's legislative power to reform or abolish the Senate. On April 25, 2014, the court ruled that this could not be done through federal legislation, but rather required constitutional amendment. To reform the Senate, the consent of at least seven provinces, which collectively have half of Canada's population, is required. Abolishment requires the consent of all ten provinces. The provinces' premiers, however, do not consider either a high priority. The Quebec Court of Appeal has re-iterated the role of the provinces in any decision.
A June 2013 poll revealed that in the wake of the controversy, 49% of Canadians wanted to reform the Senate, 41% wanted to see it abolished, 6% wanted to keep it as it was, and 4% were unsure.
On May 12, 2013, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced they were reviewing the expense claims. The RCMP had started their investigation in March 2013 when media reports were published regarding Deloitte's external review of the expenses of Brazeau, Duffy and Harb.
On August 14, 2013, it was announced that the Auditor General of Canada would be reviewing the expense claims of all senators.
In June 2015, the report was released by Auditor General Michael Ferguson. The Auditor General recommended that the cases of nine senators, including incumbent senators Pierre-Hughes Boisvenu and Colin Kenny, be referred for RCMP investigation, while 21 other senators were flagged for filing inappropriate expense claims including Senate Speaker Leo Housakos, Senate Government Leader Claude Carignan and Opposition Leader James Cowan. The Report indicated that nearly $1 million worth of inappropriate expenses were filed by the 30 senators.
The senators identified in the Auditor General's report had the option to submit to binding arbitration by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Binnie. Fourteen of the 30 senators opted for arbitration, and the arbitrator's report was issued on March 21, 2016. Of the total amount referred to arbitration, Binnie ruled that about 55% was owing to the Senate. In his report, he said that "I impute no bad motives to any of the senators."
Patrick Brazeau
Senate investigation The Senate's investigation into the accuracy of Brazeau's declaration that his primary residence was in Maniwaki, Quebec began as a result of media reports.
On November 20, 2012, a CTV reporter interviewed residents of Maniwaki, who said that Brazeau did not live there. The next day, the Senate Government Leader announced that a subcommittee would investigate whether Brazeau was in compliance with Senate rules. The review period was April 2011, when Brazeau began to claim living expenses, to September 30, 2012, the last date for which full records were available.
The subcommittee's investigation "raised a number of questions", and so on December 11, 2012, it met with Brazeau and his lawyer. After this meeting, Deloitte was retained for external review.
Deloitte was not able to assess the status of Brazeau's declaration that his primary residence was in Maniwaki because the Senate regulations and guidelines did not contain a definition of primary residence. Deloitte was, however, able to confirm Brazeau's location for almost the entire review period. He was in Maniwaki about 10%, and in Ottawa about 81% of the time. He met all four "indicators" of primary residency (driver's licence, provincial health card, provincial tax return and voting location).
Repayment Based on the finding that only 10% of Brazeau's time was in Maniwaki, the Senate ruled that his "level of presence" did not support his primary residence declaration. Brazeau was ordered to repay a total of $48,745.
On July 3, 2013, the Senate announced it would reduce Brazeau's salary by 20% to obtain repayment. It would have taken about 21 months to recoup all that was owing; however, this was interrupted by the suspension without pay in November 2013. With the parliamentary session ending when the federal election was called, it is expected that Brazeau will begin receiving his salary again, so further amounts may be recovered through the 20% reduction.
Expulsion from caucus Brazeau was expelled from the Conservative caucus on February 7, 2013, over sexual assault allegations.
Criminal charges
On February 4, 2014, the RCMP announced that Brazeau was charged in relation to his living expenses with one count of fraud under s. 380 of the Criminal Code and one of breach of trust by a public officer under s. 122. The trial will be scheduled for 2017.
On July 13, 2016, Crown Prosecutors withdrew the criminal charges against Brazeau, citing "no reasonable prospect of conviction".
Mac Harb
Senate investigation
Due to media reports regarding Harb's living expenses, the Senate began its investigation on December 6, 2012. The period of review was April 2011 to September 30, 2012, in keeping with the concurrent review of Brazeau's expenses, which had been underway since November 22, 2012. The Senate chose not to conduct an internal review of Harb's expenses due to "experience in conducting one claims review internally", and so Deloitte was retained on January 3, 2013.
Harb's declarations of primary residence were Cobden and later Westmeath, Ontario. Deloitte was not able to assess the status of these declarations because the Senate regulations and guidelines did not contain criteria for determining primary residence. Deloitte was able to confirm that Harb spent about 62% of his time in Ottawa and about 21% at the primary residence location. He did not meet three of the four "indicators" of primary residence (driver's licence, provincial health card and provincial tax return) and did not provide sufficient information as to voting location.
Repayment
Based on the finding that only 21% of Harb's time was spent at Westmeath, his "level of presence" did not support his primary residence declaration, and the Senate ordered that he repay expenses from April 2011 to date of $51,482, and that an internal investigation take place for the period prior to April 2011. Harb repaid this amount under protest and commenced action for judicial review of the Senate order. On August 26, 2013, he announced that he had repaid a further amount of $180,166 and was dropping the judicial review application. The total repaid inclusive of interest was $231,649 for living expenses dating back to 2005.
Retirement from Senate
Along with the announcement of repayment back to 2005, Harb announced his retirement from the Senate. Because he had been an MP for Ottawa for 15 years prior to his Senate appointment, he was eligible for a fully indexed parliamentary pension of $122,989 per year.
Criminal charges
On February 4, 2014, the RCMP announced that Harb was charged in relation to his living expenses with one count of fraud under s. 380 of the Criminal Code and one count of breach of trust by a public officer under s. 122.
Harb was scheduled go to court on August 10, 2015 His trial was postponed into 2016 because the Duffy trial was taking longer than expected. A month after Duffy was found not guilty, the charges against Harb were dropped because the Crown did not see a reasonable prospect of conviction.
Mike Duffy
Senate investigation
Senate Administration was asked to provide a report of Duffy's travel patterns between PEI and Ottawa. Because this travel summary "raised concerns", on February 14, 2013, the Senate expanded Deloitte's review of expense claims to include Duffy's living expenses.
Deloitte was not able to assess the status of Duffy's declaration of primary residence in Cavendish, PEI because the Senate regulations and guidelines did not include criteria for determining a senator's primary residence. Deloitte was, however, able to confirm that Duffy spent about 54% of his time in Ottawa and about 30% in PEI. Of the four "indicators" of primary residence, he met one (driver's licence), did not meet two (provincial health card and provincial tax return), and did not provide sufficient information as to voting location.