OTTAWA —Canadian senators have accumulated art rental expenses exceeding half a million dollars since 2016 — all at the expense of Canadian taxpayers— and a Saskatchewan Senator has spent the most.
According to Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, "Senators are paid more than double the average salary in Canada. If they want to hang expensive art in their offices, they have more than enough money to pay for it themselves."
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) conducted a thorough review of all Senate expenses disclosed since July 2016, when stricter spending rules were implemented after the Canadian Senate expense scandal. The analysis revealed that 52 senators claimed expenses related to art, amounting to a staggering cost of $514,616.
This means that taxpayers are being forced to fork out $6,600 each month to enable senators to adorn their office walls with artwork.
Notably, the base salary for a Canadian senator is $169,600.
As per the rules governing Senate expenses, senators are permitted to rent art from approved suppliers, with the costs of rental, delivery, installation, removal, and insurance covered by their office budget.
Terrazzano expressed concern over the senators' lavish budgets, stating, "Clearly senators' budgets are too bloated if they have tens of thousands of dollars laying around to blow on expensive art. The rule needs to change because taxpayers should not be forced to spend all of this money to decorate the offices of senators."
Nearly all the art expenses, amounting to $512,820, were for rentals from the Canadian Council for the Arts (CCA). It is worth noting that last year, the CCA received $510 million in federal funding, which accounts for approximately 90 per cent of the agency's revenue.
Saskatchewan's Senator Denise Batters claimed the highest art expense total since 2016, with annual bills averaging around $5,000. On three separate occasions, she billed taxpayers a total of $10,320 for two-year art rentals from the CCA.
Overall, Batters has submitted four art expenses since 2017, burdening taxpayers with a total cost of $32,047.
In response to the allegations, Batters issued a written statement, asserting her commitment to preserving taxpayers' money and stating, "I believe promoting Saskatchewan's art and culture publicly is important; thus, I spend a small amount of my budget to rent these regional artworks for display in my office in lieu of other office expenditures."
It is worth noting that Batters, who was appointed to the Senate of Canada in January 2013 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, served as Deputy Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs until 2021.
Following Batters, Mary Coyle, an independent senator from Nova Scotia, amassed the second-largest art expense total, with $28,535 between 2018 and 2022. David Richards, an independent senator from New Brunswick, secured the third spot, incurring seven art expenses totaling $25,230 from 2017 to 2021.
Former senator Vernon White ranked fourth, spending $25,035 on art between 2016 and 2022. Paula Simons, an independent senator from Alberta, rounded out the top five, charging taxpayers $21,650 since 2019.
Not only have art expenses skyrocketed, but the overall cost of running the Canadian Senate has also ballooned under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Senate’s budget increased 42.6 per cent from $88.8 million in 2015-16 to $126.7 million in 2023-24. (Actual expenditures in 2015-16 were $74.6 million.).
Furthermore, the number of full-time staff at the Senate surged from 372 in 2017 to 493 in 2022, representing a 30 per cent increase. Annual office budgets have also experienced a boost, with each senator allocated approximately $240,000 this year for office-related expenses, including art.
This story has been updated to correct Senator Batters' background information and the percentage increase between 2015-16 and 2023-24.
Senator Lucie Moncion, Chair of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration (CIBA), noted the correct percentage in the Chamber on Feb. 14: "At this point, I’d also like to provide some clarification respecting certain recent newspaper articles on the financial situation of the Senate. This information was confusing and painted an inaccurate picture of the Senate’s real expenditures.
Actual expenses and budgets are often used to explain the cost of operating the Senate. Colleagues, there is a difference between “budget” and “actual expenses.” The budget is the overall amount allocated for the functioning of the Senate during a year, whereas the expenses are the amount that is actually spent. Here are the figures for both budget and expenses.
"If you remember, in the newspapers, we had comparison from 2015-16. The budget at that time was $88.8 million. The 2023-24 budget is $126.7 million. The increase in the budget between 2023-24 and 2015-16 is $37.9 million, or 42.6%, representing an annual budget increase of 5.3%. If you compare the actual expenses — so I’m talking about expenses now, not about the budget — they were $74.6 million in 2015-16 and $96.4 million for the year 2021-22. That represents an increase of $21.8 million, or 4.9% a year over six years."
