On Senates and Scandals

Senate scandals teach us about senate reform

In 2009, the United Kingdom was rocked by scandal, after the Telegraph revealed that MPs were abusing taxpayer funds. As it turned out, MPs from all parties were claiming illegitimate expenses for personal gain. The public outcry that resulted did lead to a change in policy. But more importantly, it caused many elected officials to lose their jobs. Knowing that voters would boot them out of office as soon as they got the chance, many decided not to run in the next election; others resigned before the writ was dropped; a few ran and lost; and some were charged with crimes.

Canada is currently in the midst of an expense scandal of its own. Over the past few months, we have been learning about how Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy and Mac Harb have misused their Senate expense accounts, with each one looking more crooked than the last as details continue to emerge.