Why does Pamela Wallin hold a valid Ontario health card? Because she lives in Saskatchewan ..... silly!

Pamela Wallin, Conservative senator holds Ontario health card

Senator Pamela Wallin holds an Ontario health card, the Star has learned, which raises fresh questions about her claims that Saskatchewan is her home

By Bruce Campion-Smith/Ottawa Bureau Chief
Monday, February 25, 2013

The Star has learned that Senator Pamela Wallin, under fire for her housing claims, holds and Ontario health insurance card though she claims Saskatchewan residency. She declined to comment on the matter Sunday. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA—Sen. Pamela Wallin holds an Ontario health card, the Star has learned, which raises fresh questions about her claims that Saskatchewan is her home.

A source confirmed Wallin, who represents the prairie province in the Senate, has a valid Ontario health card.

One of the conditions of having a health card is that Ontario must be the “primary place of residence,” according to the provincial health ministry.

The Senate is embroiled in controversy over living and travel expenses and whether some senators even reside in the province they represent in the upper chamber, as required by the rules.

Wallin’s travel expenses — $350,000 over a two-year period — are being scrutinized by independent auditors. But Wallin is also facing questions regarding whether she resides in the province she represents in the upper chamber, as required by law.

Wallin has said she spent 168 days in Saskatchewan last year, where she owns property and has family in Wadena, east of Saskatoon.

But to be eligible for an Ontario health card, a resident must be “physically present in Ontario for 153 days in any 12-month period,” according to the province’s health department.

The Saskatchewan government sets out a similar requirement, saying to qualify for a health card in that province, a person must “make your home in Saskatchewan” and live there for at least six months a year.

Neither Wallin nor her office responded to emails seeking comment for this story. Reached by telephone on Sunday, an aide to Wallin said they would not be responding to questions posed by the Star.

Asked a week ago whether she held a Saskatchewan health card, Wallin declined to answer. “There is a point of privacy here,” Wallin told the Star’s Petti Fong.

Wallin, who also owns a condo in Toronto and an apartment in New York City, has previously said she complies with the constitutional requirements to serve as a senator for Saskatchewan.

“Saskatchewan is my home and I have owned property there for many years. I work hard in Saskatchewan, in Ottawa and across this country to fulfill my duties as a senator,” Wallin said in a statement to the Star earlier this month.

“As you know, the Senate is conducting an audit of every senator to verify compliance with the residency requirement. We await the outcome of that process,” she said.

But NDP MP Charlie Angus said the revelation about Wallin’s Ontario health card does raise fresh questions.

“We know she visits Saskatchewan . . . but that’s not the same as being a resident,” Angus told the Star in an interview.

“A health card is a very serious issue. A health card is given to people who are taxpayers, who are residents of a province,” he said.

“Is she a senator living in Ontario and getting health coverage under Ontario, but telling us she lives in Saskatchewan? There is a discrepancy there,” he said. Health cards are being accepted as proof of residency, along with a driver’s licence, income tax return or a declaration as to where they voted as the Senate probes residency claims of senators.

After reviewing that evidence, a Senate committee on Monday will begin interviewing senators whose residency for living expenses remains in question.

Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy said Friday he would repay thousands of dollars in living expenses he now says he mistakenly collected from taxpayers after admitting that a home in suburban Ottawa was his principal residence, rather than the seasonal home in Prince Edward Island he had originally claimed.

But he insisted he meets the criteria to represent the province in the Senate, even though he, too, holds an Ontario health card. Duffy, who had open heart surgery in 2006, said he continues to receive health care in Ontario on the advice of medical staff at the Ottawa Heart Institute.

"I’m an island resident. I’m entitled to be a senator. I’ve met all of those requirements. The question is really one of accounting,” Duffy told CBC News on Friday.

Two other senators are also being investigated by Deloitte for claiming housing expenses in the nation’s capital. Independent Patrick Brazeau (Quebec) and Liberal Mac Harb (Ontario) have claimed their principal residence is outside the national capital region, entitling them to the housing allowances.