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Senator's travel charges questioned

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 02/15/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press Archives Sen. Pamela Wallin claimed $350,000 of travel expenses in 27 months. her glasses at the start of a meeting, Monday February 11, 2013 in Ottawa. The prime minister is defending yet another senator who has come under scrutiny for her expense claims.Stephen Harper says he�s reviewed Conservative Sen. Wallin�s travel bills and they appear to be in line. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ (CP)

OTTAWA -- Sen. Pamela Wallin charged taxpayers nearly $26,000 in travel expenses during the last federal election period while appearing at a series of Conservative campaign events.

NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus is demanding to know whether Wallin -- the latest senator to become embroiled in expense questions in the appointed upper chamber -- used her Senate travel budget for partisan party business.

Wallin's travel expenses, which total more than $350,000 over the past 27 months, are currently the subject of an audit.

The NDP is citing Wallin's 2011 election stops in Collingwood, Ont., and Moose Jaw, Sask., as evidence the former broadcaster was not travelling on Senate business.

"Sen. Wallin and other Conservative senators were a very visible presence working for the Conservative party machine," Angus said Thursday outside the House of Commons.

"So what was she (doing) charging that amount of travel expenses... while she was working on the Conservative federal election? Was that money charged for partisan activities? That's the question that we need to answer."

New Democrats raised the matter during Thursday's question period, but it was not directly addressed by the government.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said all MPs and senators "are fully prepared and committed to have an examination of expenses to ensure that they are appropriate."

Rather than defend or explain Wallin's taxpayer-funded travel during the 2011 campaign, which propelled his Conservatives to a majority government, Harper said her overall travel expenses were comparable to those of New Democrat MPs from Western Canada.

Wallin represents Saskatchewan in the Senate, although she hasn't lived there in decades and has a residence in Toronto. Wallin says she spent 168 days in the province last year.

"These are the costs that parliamentarians incur when they travel back and forth from Ottawa to their provinces," said the prime minister. "That is what the senator has done."

Three others senators -- Liberal Mac Harb, Conservative Mike Duffy and former Conservative Patrick Brazeau -- are all being audited following questions about their housing expense claims.

The results of those audits will be made public.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 15, 2013 A18

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