Want to effectively sum up what is wrong with the Canadian Senate? Just ask Sen. Nancy Ruth about expenses.
In defending expense claims for breakfasts had after disembarking airline flights where breakfast was served on board, she told a gathering of reporters:
“There were a couple of times that my assistant put in for a breakfast when I was on a plane and they say I shouldn’t have claimed because I should have eaten that breakfast,” she told reporters. “Well, those breakfasts are pretty awful. If you want ice-cold Camembert with broken crackers, have it.”
Check out her comments here. Slide to about 1:50 of the scrum.
That off-hand remark ranks up there with the comment by David Dingwall, “I’m entitled to my entitlements,” when he told Parliament in 2005 he deserved a nice severance package after he resigned as president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint.
When you become accustomed to largesse at the taxpayers’ expense, how dare auditors or the media question lavish spending?
Yeah, it must suck to be served cold cheese and broken crackers for breakfast. I wonder how many Canadians living below the poverty line would turn their noses up at such an offering.
Senator expenses must be difficult to track, as it seems so many of our upper house appointees (remember, they aren’t elected) put down incorrect principle residences; or try to expense for issues, items and events that aren’t part of their senatorial duties.
So confusing.
Well, sorting this all out is what is confusing. There are an estimated 40 auditors hired by the Auditor General to pore over senator expenses in any given month.
Why is it so many senators go off the fiscal rails when they are appointed to office? The culture of entitlement seems to infect the upper house like a plague.
This doesn’t stick to one party in particular. We have Liberal senators and Conservative senators in hot water over their expenses.
But remember when Stephen Harper campaigned on senate reform? More than half the senate is now made up of people he’s appointed.
That’s not reform. It’s a sad state of status quo in the land of largesse.
Great article, nice job if you can get appointed
You have it, the culture of entitlement, and it seems to be part of every elected and appointed office. Lets not forget the $18 orange juice.
This woman is why, for years, people have been begging for the senate to be abolished. Surely there is cheaper and more effective way of reviewing government legislation. "Sober second thought" is costing us too much money.