Senate to release outside audits of housing expense claims on May 9

OTTAWA – The Senate has set May 9 as the day it expects to release audits into housing allowances claimed by three of its members.

The committee which oversees the upper chamber’s internal budgets asked the Deloitte accounting firm to review the residency claims of Conservative Mike Duffy, Liberal Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau, who was ousted from the Tory caucus earlier this year over an unrelated criminal matter.

The accountants were to look at their claims about where they live and their related expenses.

Committee chairman Sen. David Tkachuk says the results of those audits will be made public in two weeks, “barring unforeseen delays.”

Tkachuk says the committee will consider possible recommendations and report to the Senate as quickly as possible.

Duffy is a senator for Prince Edward Island, Brazeau holds a Quebec seat and Harb, a longtime former Ottawa MP, sits for Ontario.