Time to end self-policing of Senate expense accounts, Ferguson says in audit

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – Auditor General Michael Ferguson is calling Canada’s Senate to account, flagging the expense accounts of 30 members and urging “transformational change” to do away with a sense of entitlement in the upper chamber.

Ferguson’s long-awaited report finds numerous cases where senators filed expense claims that didn’t take into account the cost to the public purse.

He says senators should not be policing their own spending, citing examples where senators appeared to charge taxis and holiday greeting cards to taxpayers when there were cheaper options available.

In one case, Ferguson found a senator’s cellphone was being used by another person in another location, while a staffer in the same office was sending personal text messages. Combined cost to taxpayers: $1,534.

In another case, a senator charged taxpayers to go to his brother-in-law’s funeral.

Ferguson says senators should give up oversight to an independent body.

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