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Editorial — Senate scandal continues

The Senate has a lot of deep-rooted institutional problems, and reform may be almost impossible.

The latest revelation from the ongoing Senate expense scandal is that Saskatchewan Senator Pamela Wallin will likely be asked to repay about $120,000 in expenses.

This comes as a result of an external audit of her expenses, which in about two years were more than  $300,000.

While Prime Minister Stephen Harper has worked to try and reform the Senate from within since winning power in 2006, it is clear that this institution just doesn’t get it.

It is notable that two of the most profligate senators in the spending department, Wallin and Mike Duffy, were longtime TV journalists who regularly reported on numerous scandals in Ottawa. They join two other senators, Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau, in showing Canadians how out of touch the Senate is with the real folks who pay taxes to support this kind of behaviour. All but Harb were appointed by Harper.

Harper’s government has now asked the Supreme Court of Canada to rule on just how Senate reform can proceed, as the institution is mandated in the constitution and thus is very hard to change. But it clearly has a lot of institutional problems which are deep-rooted.

The vast majority of the public support abolition at present. If there was a national referendum on abolition, it would likely pass in each province, which would probably be enough of a popular mandate to support a constitutional change.

But provinces don’t give up powers easily, and all it would take is one province which decided to go against the popular will for whatever reason it deems appropriate.

The Senate is badly in need of radical reform. Perhaps a first step would be to limit senators’ expenses to a modest maximum amount which would cover real expenses run up in the course of their duties, such as travel to meetings and modest accommodations when out of town.

The Conservatives have a majority in the Senate, thanks to a raft of appointments from Harper. If the government wants to truly do something to remove at least some of the stench from the Senate, it must act swiftly to show the public that it takes misappropriations of public money seriously.

Otherwise, the Senate scandal will be a potent factor in the next federal election, and the outrage by many members of the public won’t be good news for the governing party.