Some say art is priceless, but in the Canadian Senate, it’s more like a blank cheque. 

Senators have racked up more than half-a-million dollars in art rentals and related expenses since 2016, while forcing Canadian taxpayers to pick up the tab. 

“Senators are paid more than double the average salary in Canada,” Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said. “If they want to hang expensive art in their offices, they have more than enough money to pay for it themselves.” 

The CTF reviewed all Senate expenses disclosed since July 2016, when stricter spending rules were implemented following the Canadian Senate expense scandal. The analysis reveals 52 senators filed art-related expenses for a total cost of $514,616. 

That means taxpayers are being forced to shell out $6,600 per month so senators can hang art on the walls of their offices. 

The base salary for a Canadian senator is $169,600.

According to the rules governing Senate expenses, senators are allowed to rent art from approved suppliers, with the “annual cost of … rental, delivery, installation, removal and insurance” covered by their office budget. 

“Clearly senators’ budgets are too bloated if they have tens of thousands of dollars laying around to blow on expensive art,” Terrazzano said. “The rule needs to change because taxpayers should not be forced to spend all of this money to decorate the offices of senators.” 

Almost all of the art expenses – $512,820 – were for rentals from the Canadian Council for the Arts. Last year, the CCA received $510 million in federal funding, which accounts for about 90 per cent of the agency’s revenue. 

Senator Denise Batters has the highest art expense total since 2016 with annual bills of about $5,000 per year. On three separate occasions, she billed taxpayers $10,320 for two-year art rentals from the CCA. 

In total, Batters has filed four art expenses since 2017, costing taxpayers $32,047. 

In a written statement, Batters said she has the “highest regard for taxpayers’ dollars” and always does her “utmost to ensure that public money in the Senate is guarded carefully.” 

“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,” Batters said.

The second largest tab comes from Mary Coyle, an independent senator from Nova Scotia, who submitted $28,535 worth of art expenses between 2018 and 2022. 

David Richards, an independent senator from New Brunswick, came in third place, with seven art expenses from 2017 to 2021, for a total of $25,230. 

Rounding out the top-five is former senator Vernon White, who spent $25,035 on art from 2016 to 2022, and Paula Simons, an independent senator from Alberta, who billed taxpayers for $21,650 since 2019. 

Table: Senators who spent the most on office art since 2016

The cost of running the Canadian Senate has exploded under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

In 2015-16, Senate expenditures were $74.5 million. By 2023-24, the Senate’s budget had jumped to $126.7 million – an increase of 70 per cent. 

The number of bureaucrats working at the Senate has also spiked, from 372 full-time staff in 2017, to 493 full-time staff in 2022 – an increase of 30 per cent. 

Annual office budgets are also up. This year, each Senator will get about $240,000 for office-related expenses, including art.