Influence peddlers. Partisans. Laggards. The convicted and nearly-convicted. Over the years, the Senate has seen them all – while the Prime Ministers who appointed them did their best to look the other way.
The hundreds of failed candidates, bagmen and party hacks that have filled the Canadian Senate are of such questionable character and have made such dubious contributions to public service, many now find themselves in the Senate Hall of Shame.
Who will be the next to join them? You decide. Vote now.
Patrick Brazeau
Appointed 2009-01-08
Retirement 2049-11-11
Cost to taxpayers over last three years: $901,893
Under fire from the moment he was appointed for past failures to pay child support and sexual harassment complaints filed against him. Since then, he's stayed in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons: poor attendance, sexist insults toward a journalist, allegations of tax fraud and abuse of the Senate residence allocations.
Mike Duffy
Appointed 2009-01-02
Retirement 2021-05-27
Cost to taxpayers over last three years: $1,165,778
Last seen running through a kitchen and yelling at a reporter, this former journalist scored the scoop of a lifetime when Stephen Harper appointed him in 2009. He's a constant on the Conservative fundraising circuit - but one place you won’t find him much is in Prince Edward Island, the province he claims to represent.
Mac Harb
Appointed 2003-09-09
Retirement 2028-11-10
Cost to taxpayers over last three years: $917,527
Currently being audited for claiming over $30,000 in travel and living expenses since 2010, despite owning several Ottawa properties. Appointed by Jean Chrétien in 2003, after serving as an MP for Ottawa-Centre for 15 years.
Pamela Wallin
Appointed 2009-01-02
Retirement 2028-04-10
Cost to taxpayers over last three years: $1,285,824
This former TV personality hit it big on the same day as Mike Duffy. Currently under review for not meeting her residency requirements, Wallin owns property in Toronto, but is a Senator for Saskatchewan.
Irving Gerstein
Appointed 2009-01-02
Retirement 2016-02-10
Cost to taxpayers over last three years: $998,771
Charged in 2011 with violating the Elections Act for exceeding federal spending limits on campaign advertisements. The charges were dropped when the Conservative party itself pled guilty. As Chair of Conservative Fund Canada, he spends time raising money for the Conservatives, while collecting a salary from Canadian taxpayers.
Eric Berntson
Philippe Gigantès
Andrew Thompson
Michael Kirby
Michel Cogger
Albert Planta
Wilfrid Laurier McDougald
Henri Courtemanche
Georges-Casimir Dessaulles
Eric Berntson
Conservative (1990-2001)
One of the GST-8, appointed by Brian Mulroney in 1990 to help pass the GST. Convicted in 1999 for defrauding the Saskatchewan government but continued to sit in the Senate for another two years.
Philippe Gigantès
Liberal (1984-1998)
An aspiring author, he read the entirety of his book into the record of the Senate so he could get a complete French translation, which he would later have published.
Andrew Thompson
Liberal (1967-1998)
Came to work only 12 times between June 1990 and December 1997 – while continuing to collect a paycheque.
Michael Kirby
Liberal (1984-2006)
Wrote a report recommending greater private provision of health care while receiving payment from a private health care company on whose board he sat.
Michel Cogger
Conservative (1986-2000)
Resigned when he was found guilty of using his position in the Senate to gain favors for a paying client. Sentence suspended in 2001.
Albert Planta
Conservative (1917-1935)
While in the Senate, he was sentenced to two years in prison for defrauding one of his business clients.
Wilfrid Laurier McDougald
Liberal (1926-1932)
Forced to resign when it was revealed that the company he owned had given $750,000 to the Liberal Party in 1925 and 1926 in return for the right to dam the Beauharnois River for electricity.
Henri Courtemanche
Conservative (1960-1961)
Forced to resign less than two years into his appointment, when an investigation found he had received kickbacks on government grants to a Montreal hospital in return for lobbying the Quebec Minister of Health.
Georges-Casimir Dessaulles
Liberal (1907-1930)
Having sat in the Senate for over 23 years, Dessaulles is remembered for having spoken only twice in the Chamber before his death at the age of 102.
