• Bill C-518 would strip taxpayer-funded portion of pensions from politicians convicted of certain crimes

• With their files now referred to the RCMP, Senators Boisvenu and Kenny are clearly in a conflict of interest

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today called for Senators Pierre-Hughes Boisvenu and Colin Kenny to recuse themselves from voting on Bill C-518, the Protecting Taxpayers From Convicted Politicians Act.

The CTF estimates that Senator Kenny would be eligible for an annual pension of $103,385, or an estimated $2,370,266 to age 90, while Senator Boisvenu will become eligible for a pension if he serves until January 29, 2016, at which point he would be entitled to a pension of $24,537 annually, or an estimated $711,062 to age 90. (Pension figures for the seven retired Senators who have been referred to the RCMP are listed below)

“You can’t have Senators who could soon be under investigation by the RCMP voting on a bill that, if passed, would take away their own pensions if they are convicted of one of the prescribed crimes,” said CTF Federal Director Aaron Wudrick. “These Senators need to recuse themselves from debating or voting on C-518.”

Wudrick noted that the Auditor General’s report released this week only underscores the need for C-518 - previously passed by the House of Commons 258 to 13 – to be passed into law at the earliest opportunity.

“The Senate is an institution under siege. Canadians are outraged. Swift passage of C-518 would be one concrete step Senators can take to demonstrate they are serious about ensuring inappropriate actions have real consequences, and they should take it,” said Wudrick.

Estimated Pensions for the seven retired Senators referred to the RCMP by the Auditor General: