15 senators took a $118K trip to Alberta. Some colleagues question its relevance

CBC

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The initiative was launched by Alberta Sen. Scott Tannas. In May 2024, he sent a message to his colleagues in the upper chamber inviting them on what he called a "familiarization tour" of his province.
The idea was simple, he explained. Many senators were unfamiliar with his part of the country and would benefit from a "come to know" visit to Alberta.
The trip, organized in collaboration with the Alberta government, featured several stops, including a visit to the Calgary Stampede, a meeting with members of the tourism industry in Banff, a day trip to the oilsands and a tour of the province's grain and beef farms.
Fifteen senators chose to participate in the three-day trip last July. Six of them brought staff along and three senators brought their spouses. Taxpayers footed the bill, which is within the rules of the Senate.
The total cost: $118,000, according to data obtained and compiled by Radio-Canada.
Speaking on the condition that they not be named out of fear of reprisals, three senators say they were uneasy about the idea. The senators, who did not attend, criticize the trip's timing but also its relevance. It wasn't linked to specific committee work, and one said it was akin to "a summer team-building trip."
After last year's trip, other senators have organized discovery visits for this summer. One is again planned in Alberta — once again during the Stampede — and another to Churchill, Man.
A review is underway by the Senate Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration (CIBA) to determine whether "familiarization tours in Canada" need to be better supervised.
"[The] steering committee has questions and concerns about the organization of co-ordinated trips by groups of senators ... [with] expenses that differ considerably from the regular use of Senate resources," wrote Sen. Lucie Moncion in a letter to all senators on April 30.
Moncion chairs the CIBA as well as its steering committee on agenda and procedure.
"The steering committee wishes to ensure that public funds continue to be used diligently and prudently," she wrote.
After a closed-door meeting last Thursday, the CIBA asked the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates and Committee Budgets (SEBS) to examine and report on co-ordinated travel by senators, and issue recommendations to better regulate it.
Spousal travel questioned
The other source of unease concerns the presence of spouses, whose travel to Alberta was reimbursed by the Senate.
"I'm all for helping senators see their families, and sometimes paying for spouses to travel with us to Ottawa," one senator said. "But it can't be a free pass to pay for a vacation in the Rockies."
In an audit conducted in 2015 — when the Senate was grappling with an expense scandal — former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie issued a warning to those who sit in the Red Chamber: spouses have the right to accompany senators on duty, but its purpose is to enable what the Senate administration refers to as "family reunification."
"Spousal travel was never simply a non-taxable benefit or a basket of free airplane rides," he wrote.
That's precisely what bothers Sen. Pierre Moreau, a former Quebec minister, who didn't take part in last summer's tour. Although he feels that such trips can be beneficial and justified, he believes that the rules around spousal travel should be tightened.
"Spouses should cover their own expenses," he said. "[Otherwise], I have a problem with that."
None of the three senators who brought their spouses — Paul Prosper, Rosemary Moodie and Ratna Omidvar — responded to Radio-Canada's requests for comment.
Omidvar retired a few months after the tour.
In a September 2024 speech to the Senate, she recounted "a truly transformational visit to Alberta," adding that she bought her very first pair of blue jeans during the visit to the Calgary Stampede.
"They're not quite my style, I think you know, but I was rewarded amply by a number of cowboys tipping their hat to me and saying, 'Howdy, ma'am,' just like in the westerns," she said.
Organizers defend trip's relevance
Tannas, who organized the tour, told Radio-Canada in an interview he believes the participants can decide whether it's reasonable to bring their spouses along.
"It is up to the individual senator, and they have to defend it," he said.
Tannas defends inviting his colleagues to the Stampede, an event he considers important for understanding the "spirit" of Alberta.
"The Stampede, between the agricultural exhibition and, quite frankly, the chuckwagon races and the evening show — it gives you a good sense of what Alberta is about and what the western provinces are about."
He also pointed out that the chuckwagon races were "at the end of the day," and that participants paid their entrance fees.
Their $500-plus-a-night hotel — at the most expensive time of the year — was, however, reimbursed by taxpayers.
Tannas rejects the idea that he concocted a vacation on the backs of taxpayers, saying the program had a heavy schedule and multiple meetings.
He said it's essential for senators to have a good understanding of the different regions of the country, because that's their job.
"Our job is to make sure that one region of the country is not being advantaged over another," he said, adding that last year there were several private members' bills in the Senate that he saw as hostile to his province.
Sen. Daryl Fridhandler, who is organizing the Alberta tour this summer, agrees.
"Yes, it's going to cost some money. But, you know, you get what you pay for. And you're going to get better senators and better decisions if people kind of understand things better."
Some say rules need tightening
Like members of Parliament, the 105 senators can be reimbursed for travel related to their parliamentary work. They all have a bank of points for free travel from their homes to the Senate in Ottawa.
Senators can also use some of their points for "special" travel — such as attending conferences, language training or meeting representatives in a region.
But the rules are clear: "At all times, the primary purpose of travel shall be related to a parliamentary function and travel expenditures shall be justifiable, appropriate, reasonable and well documented."
In an interview with Radio-Canada, New Democrat MP Alexandre Boulerice said he believes senators should be more prudent in their spending, especially since public servants have seen their travel budgets reduced since 2023.
"I think there's a mismanagement of public funds there," he said. "And I think we should tighten up the rules."
Boulerice said he's concerned senators could now organize trips all over Canada under the pretext that there are different "corners of the country" they need to understand.
He noted that since the trip wasn't part of Senate committee work, there's no expectation of a study or report with recommendations.
"If we can do that, I'm going on a familiarization trip to Baie-des-Chaleurs in New Brunswick with my family. I'm not sure the taxpayer will benefit, though," he said.
University of Ottawa political scientist Geneviève Tellier, who specializes in public finance, agrees.
"It seems to me to go a little beyond the normal scope of senators' work," she said. "Now, if the Senate says, 'We want to work on a particular subject — oil, energy, fisheries, etc. — and we need some help, and we need to go there' — well that already exists. There's a procedure, there's funding.
"But this type of trip, on the initiative of a single senator, with no accountability afterwards, what's the point, apart from raising awareness?" she said.
Bloc Québécois House leader Christine Normandin pointed out the very composition of the Senate features provincial representation to ensure all parts of the country are heard.
"There are Alberta senators! They're supposed to be the voice of Alberta in the various senators' caucuses," she said in an interview.
The concern for three senators who spoke to Radio-Canada is that the tours leave an impression of frivolity, which reflects badly on the Senate as a whole.
"This trip may be useful, but it's not essential," one senator said. "When you're a non-elected official, you have to be particularly careful with public spending. You can't let things get out of hand."
A dozen years ago, the Senate was marred by its expense scandal involving housing and travel allowances claimed by Conservative and Liberal senators.
Since then, spending rules have been tightened — senators are required to be more transparent — but Tellier advises senators, especially those who didn't experience the scandal, to be extremely cautious.