Maintaining her power over Canada, doesn’t seem like the best way to apologize for ‘accidentally’ cheating Canadians out of tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“I’m very sorry obviously that I’ve caused all of this grief for family and my friends and for my fellow parliamentarians, and I think taxpayers have a right to know,” she told Mansbridge.
Auditors are currently going over Wallin’s travel expense claims going back to January 2009, when she was first appointed to the Senate. It has been reported that Wallin has claimed about $350,000 in travel expenses since September 2010.
Wallin said she made mistakes on her claims for flights.
“I sign the documents, so I take responsibility,” the former journalist and diplomat said. “I take full responsibility for this. I should have gone over it with a fine-tooth comb as anybody should and make sure, but I just didn’t.”
“I was doing what I thought my job was — to not sit in Ottawa in an office, not sit in the Senate chamber always, but to be out there,” she said .
I think it’s clear that Wallin is not “resident in the Province for which (s)he (was) appointed”. Someone spending upwards of $400/day on travel and other expenses would be described as “nomadic”, not “resident” for one thing.
Logically, simply owning property somewhere does not make you a resident of that location. If Wallin can own property in both Saskatchewan and Ontario, what gives her Saskatchewan property the quality attributed to it as “residence”.
About the only thing Wallin has said on the matter is that she has “been fully cooperating with the auditor”, is ensuring every document is provided and “can’t really comment until this process is concluded.”
It is an explanation Wallin wouldn’t have found unacceptable as a journalist demanding answers on behalf of the public. Perhaps she should be reminded that standards haven’t changed.
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Read more: http://www.leaderpost.com/entertainment/MANDRYK+Wallin+skip+expenses/8428525/story.html
Pamela Wallin
“In recognition of her outstanding contributions to journalism and community and public service.”
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Wallin recently quit the Porter board. Someone explained to me (but I haven’t been able to confirm) this is because her residence to sit on that board was listed as Toronto, ON, not Wadena, SK.
JUXTAPOSE: Liberal Senator jailed for phony travel expenses.
Former Liberal senator Raymond Lavigne has been sent to jail for breach of trust and defrauding the Senate of more than $10,000 in phoney travel expense claims.
