XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
     Happy New Year to all of Harper's appointees in the senate . . . .   
   ______________________________________   
      
   Postmedia News January 2, 2014   
      
   Senators might be interviewed under oath, visited at home in audit of   
   Senate spending   
      
      
   OTTAWA — Canada’s auditor   
   general has notified   
   senators that a sweeping probe of their spending may include visits to   
   their homes, and that they could be interviewed under oath in   
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Âœexceptional circumstances.”   
      
   The details are laid out in documents auditor general Michael   
   Ferguson’s office provided to senators in November   
   about the   
   comprehensive audit of Senate expenses. Copies of the documents,   
   including a three-page letter Ferguson wrote to senators, were obtained   
   by Postmedia News.   
      
   The documents note the Senate spending audit may include auditors   
   visiting the places senators have declared as their primary residence in   
   order to qualify for a $22,000-a-year housing allowance, and looking at   
   spending outside the current period under review —   
   April 2011   
   to March 2013 —if auditors have concerns about any   
   senator.   
      
   Senators’ staff may be interviewed together or   
   separately   
   from their bosses, and possibly under oath.   
      
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœThe objective of the audit of the Senate of Canada is   
   to   
   determine whether senators’ expenses and other   
   senators’ transactions have been properly controlled and   
   incurred for parliamentary business with due regard for the   
   use of public funds,” reads part of the summary of the   
   audit   
   plan given to senators.   
      
   The documents include a draft summary of the audit plan and copies of   
   slides used in a presentation Ferguson and his office made to senators   
   in late October. That closed-door meeting took place on Parliament Hill   
   as the Senate debated suspending senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau   
   and Pamela Wallin without pay over charges of   
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Âœgross negligence” with their   
   expenses.   
      
   The documents suggest Ferguson’s team will probe deeper   
   into   
   the spending habits of senators — including   
   scrutinizing the   
   spot senators tell the Senate they call home — than   
   outside   
   auditors from Deloitte did in 2013.   
      
   The Deloitte auditors didn’t note in their final   
   reports that   
   they visited house visits as part of audits of housing claims from Duffy   
   and Brazeau, and former Liberal senator Mac Harb.   
      
   RCMP investigators looking into the questionable spending   
   visited Harb’s and Brazeau’s   
   declared primary   
   residences. In court documents, the Mounties have alleged   
   Harb’s primary residence was   
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Âœuninhabitable,” and that Brazeau   
   claimed his father’s house as his primary residence.   
      
   It was in August that the Senate invited Ferguson’s   
   office to   
   conduct a comprehensive audit. Ferguson has been given greater access   
   than his predecessor, Sheila Fraser, who was allowed a limited review of   
   a small sample of expense claims.   
      
   This time, Ferguson is reviewing the claims of all senators who have   
   been in the upper chamber over the last two years. However, that time   
   line is flexible: “On an exception basis, we will   
   expand this   
   time period as needed to verify other matters that come to our   
   attention,” the audit summary reads.   
      
   The planning phase for the audit is over and teams of auditors have been   
   going into senators’ office poring through   
   spending-related   
   documents. Senators are expected to provide auditors with expense   
   documents within five days of them being requested, and alert   
   Ferguson’s teams if any of the documents have been   
   altered.   
      
   Senators were told late last year that auditors would ask for any   
   documents or records they felt they needed to see, including documents   
   subject to solicitor-client privilege. Senators have balked at requests   
   for those documents, and have also questioned auditors’   
   request for personal banking and credit card information.   
      
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœWe will request information that we determine is   
   relevant   
   and necessary to enable us to carry out the audit,”   
   Ferguson   
   wrote in a November letter to senators. “We may also   
   access   
   information held by third parties, and auditors may visit the   
   location of senators’ primary residence.   
      
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€ÂœIn addition, we will be conducting interviews with you   
   and   
   your staff (either together or separately). Under certain circumstances,   
   interviews may be conducted under oath, as authorized by the Auditor   
   General Act.”   
      
   Ferguson’s final report is expected to publicly list   
   findings   
   for each senator. According to the documents, the final report will be   
   finished by December 2014.   
      
   None of the senators under investigation by the RCMP —   
   Duffy,   
   Wallin, Brazeau and Harb — will be included in the   
   audit. Nor   
   will the audit teams scrutinize the expenses of deceased senators, such   
   as Doug Finley, or Joyce Fairbairn, who retired early due to health reasons.   
      
   Aside from housing expenses, the spending audit includes the following   
   expense areas:   
      
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Â¢ Travel — both personal and   
   while on Senate or   
   inter-parliamentary committee business — and hospitality   
   expenses;   
      
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Â¢ Staffing policies, such as hiring and firing of   
   employees,   
   which internal audits have flagged in the past as being problematic;   
      
   ÃƒÂ¢Ã‚€Â¢ Office spending, such as purchases of goods and   
   services,   
   including contractors for research. Office budgets in the last fiscal   
   year were $161,200.   
      
   Wallin landed in hot water for her travel spending, and repaid about   
   $150,000 in questionable claims. Harb and Brazeau were ordered to repay   
   their questionable claims, despite Deloitte auditors saying   
   they couldn’t determine if any rules were broken.   
      
   Harb repaid about $231,000 in housing claims going back several years.   
      
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