Pam Wallin, until recently a star Conservative senator but now just another honourable senator under investigation for dodgy expense claims, knows where she lives.
Why, there’s even a sign outside Wadena, Sask., to remind her. It proclaims “home of Pamela Wallin,” she told the CBC June 13 as she tried to explain an ongoing audit of her travel expenses that led to her being expelled from the Conservative caucus.
“It’s a very simple test,” she told Peter Mansbridge. ” You know, do you own $4,000 worth of property in the province that you represent? You declare your primary residence in the province you represent. It’s a pretty straightforward thing.”
Read Also
Proactive approach best bet with looming catastrophes
The Pan-Canadian Action Plan on African swine fever has been developed to avoid the worst case scenario — a total loss ofmarket access.
Actually, as alleged Prince Edward Island senator Mike Duffy has found out, it isn’t quite that simple. He has lived in an Ottawa suburb for years yet claimed a cottage in P.E.I. as his principal residence and then billed the Senate (excuse me, taxpayers) tens of thousands of dollars for Ottawa living expenses.
He too is a former Conservative senator.
The constitution actually says a senator must “reside” in the province they are appointed to represent. That can be determined not by what they declare to be their principal residence or where their heart is but what address is on their health card, where they pay taxes, where their driver’s license and plates are issued and where they vote.
In that regard, it is fairly straightforward
So returning to senator Wallin, auditors now are looking at some of her Ottawa housing expense claims and regular travel between Ottawa and Toronto, where she has a residence that has been listed in some corporate filings as her permanent address.
Were those trips on Senate business? They are asking.
In the softball interview on CBC, Mansbridge did not press the point of where she actually lives and is she qualified to claim to be a Saskatchewan senator.
It is all about travel expenses, Wallin said, and she already has repaid $38,000 because she realizes some of her claims were inappropriate.
But there are those regular flights between Ottawa and Toronto to account for. Of more than $350,000 in travel claimed over two years to March 2011, only a small fraction was between Ottawa and Saskatchewan, a main purpose of Senate travel compensation.
Wallin has a simple explanation. Many of those trips were destined for Saskatchewan but had to go through somewhere else because, well, you can’t get there directly from here (Ottawa).
“There are no direct flights out of Ottawa,” she told CBC. “Anybody who tries to fly to Saskatchewan or leave Saskatchewan knows how difficult it is. It’s not a province that’s really well served.”
Memo to senator Wallin: from my bureau in Ottawa to my newspaper head office in Saskatoon, I have been flying on direct flights between the two cities for years. My Saskatoon mother-in-law makes the trip on a direct flight.
A simple check of Air Canada schedules shows direct connections.
As Duffy can’t seem to figure out where he lives, Wallin seems unable to read an airline schedule.
Perhaps she should change travel agents.
