Appendix B—Files recommended for review by the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration

2015 June Report of the Auditor General of Canada to the Senate of Canada—Senators’ Expenses Appendix B—Files recommended for review by the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration

In our audit of Senators’ expenses, we found 21 cases for which

• we could not accept the Senators’ expenses as having been incurred for parliamentary business, because of the nature or significance of the transactions, or because there was insufficient information to support them, or
• we determined the expenses were not in accordance with the applicable Senate rules, policies, or guidelines.

We have recommended that the Standing Senate Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration consider the cases of the following 21 Honourable Senators and former Senators and determine whether further action is necessary, including whether reimbursement of any amount is required.

• Claude Carignan
• James S. Cowan
• Jean-Guy Dagenais
• Joseph A. Day
• Nicole Eaton
• Leo Housakos
• Janis G. Johnson
• Noël A. Kinsella (resigned)
• Sandra M. Lovelace Nicholas
• Elaine McCoy
• Terry M. Mercer
• Pana Merchant
• Lowell Murray (retired)
• Dennis Glen Patterson
• Robert W. Peterson (retired)
• Donald Neil Plett
• Vivienne Poy (resigned)
• Nancy Greene Raine
• Nick G. Sibbeston
• Terry Stratton (retired)
• David Tkachuk

Notes:

• Some of the individual reports of Senators’ expenses indicate amounts repaid after 5 June 2013. This was the date that the motion to invite the Auditor General of Canada to conduct an audit of Senators’ expenses was introduced in the Senate. Repayments made after 5 June 2013 did not affect our analysis of whether the reported expenses and other transactions have been properly controlled and incurred for parliamentary business. Any repayments after 6 May 2015 were not included in these amounts.
• In a number of cases, we have reported that certain expenses were not “primarily” for parliamentary business because the use of Senate resources was not consistent with the provisions of the Senate Administrative Rules. The Senate Administrative Rules state that Senators may not use Senate resources except to carry out parliamentary functions, but incidental personal use of Senate resources is permitted. Such incidental use must be minor, and must not give rise to a Senate expense. In our audit work, we identified instances where Senators used Senate resources, but the Senators’ parliamentary business was incidental to other activities undertaken by the Senator.