2 senators from New Brunswick see amounts owed reduced

Two New Brunswick senators who were found to have overbilled taxpayers on their travel expenses won't have to repay as much as they originally thought.

Senator Joseph Day and Senator Sandra Lovelace Nicholas have both seen their amounts reduced by an arbitration process overseen by retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Ian Binnie.

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Binnie disagreed with some of the conclusions of Auditor General Michael Ferguson, whose 2015 report said Day had $19,634 and Lovelace Nicholas $75,227 in inappropriate expenses.

Binnie's report, released Monday, said many of those expenses did fit the definition of parliamentary business.

He concluded Day should repay $3,050 and Lovelace Nicholas $38,023. Both senators were Liberal appointees. Binnie said some of the travel flagged by Ferguson could be seen as part of their Senate duties and was eligible for expense claims.

In Day's case, Binnie said the $3,050, for travel to a military charity fundraiser at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., was clearly outside Senate expense policies and should be repaid.

But he said other travel claims in which Day made stops while travelling between New Brunswick and Ottawa were appropriate, and didn't have to be repaid.

Binnie was similarly forgiving for some of Lovelace Nicholas's travel expenses, such as a trip to Vancouver for National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, which he concluded fell within her responsibilities as an aboriginal senator.

Binnie questioned many of her claims for multiple-night stays in Fredericton, where she said she often met with aboriginal people and groups while staying at the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel.

Lovelace Nicholas lives in Tobique First Nation and travels to Ottawa via Fredericton, often staying in the provincial capital for extended periods. She explained to auditors it was easier to consult aboriginal stakeholders in Fredericton.

The purpose of the travel allowance is to facilitate travel from point of origin to her destination, not to finance establishment of a 'constituency clinic' in Fredericton.- Ian Binnie, arbitrator

"Unfortunately, the Senator's informal style of consultation generates little in the way of documentation," Binnie's report states.

It wasn't enough for Lovelace Nicholas to argue that any time spent in Fredericton was, by definition, to meet with constituents, Binnie wrote. "The Senator offered no evidence from the people or groups she met with in Fredericton to confirm such meetings."

"The purpose of the travel allowance is to facilitate travel from point of origin to her destination, not to finance establishment of a 'constituency clinic' in Fredericton."

Even so, Binnie said Lovelace Nicholas was able to make some argument for claiming Senate business and for extended stays in Fredericton.

In some cases, he said she decided to stay in the city rather than drive home because of bad weather. "It is unfair to second-guess with hindsight road safety on a back road in New Brunswick in winter," he wrote.

Senate could garnishee salaries

It's not clear whether Lovelace Nicholas will repay the new, reduced amount of $38,023.

"We have the report from Justice Binnie and intend to review it thoroughly," her lawyer, T.J. Burke, stated in an email to CBC News on Monday. "[Senator] Lovelace Nicholas will refrain from commenting until tomorrow afternoon."

Day told reporters in Ottawa that while the reduction in what he'll have to repay is significant, what's more important is that Binnie agreed with him on four out of five expense claims.

"So I feel vindicated, and I feel much, much better about the whole situation," Day said. "The other thing he said is he confirmed what the RCMP already said, which is that there was nothing untoward here and there was no bad faith at all."

According to the Senate website, if the two senators refuse to repay the smaller amounts set by Binnie, the Senate can garnishee their salaries to recoup the money.

Retired senator denies any wrongdoing

Two other New Brunswick senators, both of them retired, were also flagged in last year's report by the auditor general.

Former Conservative senator Noël Kinsella had $9,386 in inappropriate expenses. Kinsella repaid the amount in full rather than dispute it through Binnie's arbitration.

And former Liberal senator Rose-Marie Losier-Cool had the highest amount of inappropriate expenses for any New Brunswick senator: $110,051.

The audit said she claimed travel expenses on an Ottawa-area home even though it was her primary residence.

Losier-Cool disputed the conclusion but did not opt for the Binnie arbitration process. The Senate's only option is to take legal action to recoup the $110,051.

She is also among a handful of senators and ex-senators still waiting to learn if the RCMP will lay charges.

"Senator Losier-Cool denies any wrongdoing whatsoever," her lawyer, George Cooper, said Monday afternoon.

"As the matter is under investigation, she has no further comment, and we will have no further comment on her behalf."

Adds clarity for future claims

New Brunswick Senator John Wallace, who sits as an independent, says Binnie's report will serve as a useful guide to how senators claim expenses.

"It adds a lot of clarity to it," he said. "I think that's going to be extremely helpful."

Wallace and five other senators, including New Brunswick's Pierrette Ringuette, have been meeting to discuss how they can work together to make the Senate function better and with less partisanship.

The appointment of seven new independent senators last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should help that, Wallace said.

"We're on the verge of major, major changes, and that's what I expect we'll see in the weeks and months that follow."

New Brunswick has two vacant Senate seats, and the federal government plans to fill those spots and others with the same arm's-length appointment process it used for last week's appointees.

Provincial governments are to be part of that process.

Premier Brian Gallant said Monday his government hasn't been approached yet to be part of the vetting for New Brunswick's two vacancies.

"We support this approach. We think it's good it'll be based on merit, competence, and not based on partisanship," he said. "We look forward to hearing more about it as time goes by."