Romantic intervention rejected as Manitoba senator’s travel expense

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This article was published 21/03/2016 (3727 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA – Manitoba Sen. Terry Stratton justified a Senate expense by saying he had been assigned to visit Calgary to cool the fires of ardour between a former Conservative staffer and a woman the government did not approve of.

But his claim for travel expenses was rejected.

Auditor General Michael Ferguson first rejected the unusual expense claim last June, and former Supreme Court Justice Ian Binnie agreed with him today.  Binnie ruled the 2012 claim by Stratton, who has since retired as a senator, was not an acceptable use of Senate travel funds.

In Binnie’s binding arbitration report reviewing the expenses of 14 of the 30 senators identified as having faulty expense claims by the auditor general last year, Stratton is one of just four who did not see any change to the amount they must repay the Senate.

Manitoba Conservative Sen. Don Plett had his amount reduced from $1,120 to $404.45.

Last June, Auditor General Michael Ferguson called out Stratton for claiming two trips to Calgary in June and November 2012, which Ferguson said were not for acceptable Senate business. Stratton claimed the first, about $3,288, as a “farewell trip” coming about 10 months before his required retirement from the Senate. The second trip, costing $2,178, he claimed as “meetings.” His wife accompanied him on both trips.

In his response to the audit, Stratton did not explain the reason for the second trip, but said he should not have to repay the money because he retired two weeks early and saved the Senate two weeks of air fares and per diem expenses. Binnie dismissed that explanation, saying at best it was “rough justice” and that a potential savings from early retirement is not the same thing as a legitimate expense claim.

Binnie said the first trip in June was “primarily of a personal nature.”

In Ferguson’s report, Stratton explained the trip (he was in Calgary for three days and his wife was there for five days), by saying his “leadership” had asked him to “deal with a sensitive issue that needed to be dealt with directly with the individual. It did not to my knowledge, involve the government; rather its aim was to limit embarrassment to two of the country’s institutions.”

In his meeting with Binnie, Stratton expanded and explained he was asked to go and convince this person to stop cavorting “with a woman that … let’s just say the two of them out in public caused …embarrassment both to the [University of Calgary] and to the Senate of Canada.” Stratton told Binnie he took his wife to keep the trip “under the radar.”

The individual is not named. The Free Press has not been able to reach Stratton for comment.

Binnie’s review of the expense claims flagged by the auditor found further explanations provided by the 14 senators were good enough to conclude 45 per cent of the amounts owing was in fact legitimate. That includes some of the claims by Plett. Plett was flagged by Ferguson for making faulty claims in the amount of $4,095. Plett immediately repaid $2,975, saying two personal trips were claimed by mistake.

Another trip from Calgary to Ottawa in July 2011, costing $714.53, was singled out by Ferguson because Plett had been in Calgary for personal reasons. However Plett says he was asked to return to Ottawa by then Manitoba regional minister Vic Toews to meet with the head of Corrections Canada. Ferguson said Plett should only have claimed what it would have cost to fly back from Winnipeg, rather than from Calgary but Binnie disagreed and said the expense was justified.

However, two trips from Winnipeg to Montreal in December 2011 and February 2012 were not justified. Concerning the first trip, Plett says he cannot remember who he met with, a memory lapse which Binnie says disqualifies the claim. On the second trip, Plett met with Sen. Leo Housakis but also admits he attended a Winnipeg Jets game against the Montreal Canadiens, which was his main reason for going to Montreal.

Plett now must repay the Senate another $404.45.

Binnie said he didn’t think any senators were trying to dupe the system but many didn’t put enough thought into some of their claims.

“In my view, however, the problem for many of the Senators singled out by the Auditor General was not so much the clarity of the rules as it was a casual attitude towards the limits of their entitlement,” he wrote.

He said senators should treat expense claims the same as they would personal expenses and determine if the cost is worth the benefit of the trip.

Stratton, Plett and the other 14 senators who turned to Binnie for binding arbitration now have 30 days to repay the money. 

Former Liberals Sharon Carstairs and Rod Zimmer, who are said to owe $7,528 and $176,014 respectively, did not opt for binding arbitration but now also have 30 days to repay the money. 

If Plett has not paid within the 30 days, his salary will be docked that amount. If Stratton, Carstairs and Zimmer have not repaid the money in time, the Senate will take legal action against them.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca