Senator under fire to resign — if she can find the time

Listen to Roger Currie’s commentary on Senator Pamela Wallin

Senator Pamela Wallin. Photo by Richard Burdett

Pamela Wallin should really resign from the Senate one of these days, if she can find the time. The Queen of Wadena has had quite a year, and it’s only half over.

Along with fellow Senators Mike Duffy, Marc Harb and Patrick Brazeau, Wallin’s life has been under a bit of microscope for a few months, and it’s not a pretty picture. She is being forced to pay back thousands in questionable expense claims, and she blames it on sloppy paperwork.

Wallin has been forced out of the Conservative caucus where she had once been considered a star. Even her support in her hometown of Wadena is getting somewhat shaky.

Just before the end of June, the Globe and Mail published a letter that Wallin wrote to the Senate committee which is dissecting her life. Among other things, she admitted in the letter that she did not vote in the last federal election, or the last Saskatchewan election, or the last local election in Wadena. The reason? It simply did not fit into her travel schedule.

That letter may be the tipping point for the Senator. Let’s just look at the federal vote in 2011 that she didn’t take part in. I worked for Elections Canada in two elections in the past decade. The experience convinced me that no country in this world makes it easier for its citizens to cast a ballot.

Besides regular polls and advance polls, there are all kind of special ballots, and mail-in ballots that can be arranged, especially for someone like a Senator who has staff to help with the mundane details of supporting the idea of democracy.

In Wadena, where she also didn’t vote, there’s a street called Wallin Drive. Rumour has it that the town is thinking of changing the name to Entitlement Alley, at least temporarily.

It’s time to resign Pam, even if you have to phone it in.

I’m Roger Currie