Senate scandal creates no paper trail in PM’s own department
Privy Council website indicates 23 info requests about the Senate scandal processed by June
The Senate expenses scandal may have generated a lot of headlines this year, but apparently it hadn't prompted a single email, memo or even a sticky-note in Stephen Harper's own department by the height of the controversy in June.
The Privy Council Office, the bureaucracy that serves the prime minister's operations, reported in June it did not have a single document of any description related to the scandal involving senators Mike Duffy, Patrick Brazeau, Mac Harb and Pamela Wallin or others involved in the controversy, including Harper's former chief of staff Nigel Wright.
This revelation came in response to requests by reporters and others using the Access to Information Act to obtain all documents in the possession of the Privy Council relating to the Senate scandal.
The Privy Council website indicates a total of 23 such requests about the Senate had been processed by June.
Every one of the requests yielded "zero" pages, and a notation that the information requested "does not exist."
Here's a look at the unsuccessful requests:
| A-2013-00075 | All correspondence between Nigel Wright and Senator Mike Duffy or Janice Payne from February 1, 2013 to 22 May 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00076 | All correspondence between Benjamin Perrin and Senator Mike Duffy or Janice Payne from February 1, 2013 to 22 May 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00077 | All records related to Senator Mike Duffy from February 1, 2013 to 22 May 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00080 | 2013 records on assisting Senators whose residency and travel or other expenses have been challenged | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00085 | Documents concerning an agreement concluded with Mike Duffy, including the agreement itself, between January 1, 2013, and May 22, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00099 | Documents from Wayne Wouters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on the topic of the payment between Nigel Wright and Sen. Mike Duffy, for the period Jan. 1, 2013 to May 17, 2013. | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00101 | All communications from the Clerk of the Privy Council to the Prime Minister from 1 January 2013 to 28 May 2013 on Senators' expense claims and the investigation by the Senate into expense by Senators | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00103 | All records referencing Sen. Mike Duffy from Feb. 15, 2013 to March 1, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00104 | All records referencing Sen. Mike Duffy from March 2, 2013 to March 31, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00105 | All records referencing Sen. Mike Duffy from April 1, 2013 to April 30, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00106 | All records referencing Sen. Mike Duffy from May 1, 2013 to May 29, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00107 | All records referencing Sen. Pamela Wallin from February 1, 2013 to May 29, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00108 | All records referencing Sen. Mac Harb from February 1, 2013 to May 29, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00109 | All records referencing Sen. Patrick Brazeau from February 1, 2013 to May 29, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00110 | All records referencing Sen. Patrick Brazeau from November 1, 2012 to Jan. 31, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00113 | All correspondence between Nigel Wright and Senators David Tkachuk, Marjory LeBreton or Carolyn Stewart-Olsen from February 1, 2013 to May 30, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00114 | Any contract, letter of understanding or letter of intent signed with Senator Mike Duffy or Janice Payne from February 1, 2013 to May 30, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00125 | Emails sent and received by Nigel Wright referring to Senator Mike Duffy between May 1, 2013 and May 29, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00126 | Emails sent and received by Nigel Wright referring to Senator Mike Duffy between February 18, 2013, and February 25, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00130 | The total number of times that Mr. Nigel Wright abstained from participating in any matters or issues set out in his Public Declaration | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00131 | All records related to Senator Mike Duffy’s and Senator Pamela Wallin’s expenses | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00132 | Question Period notes regarding Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Nigel Wright or expenses in the Senate between May 13, 2013 and May 31, 2013 | Does not exist | 0 |
| A-2013-00139 | Records related to Senator Mike Duffy’s and Senator Pamela Wallin's expenses | Does not exist | 0 |