It's unlikely a detailed spending audit of the Senate will be released until sometime after April – and the nature of the auditor general's investigation gives an indication of why.
Senators say questions have been so detailed they have even been asked whether they claimed meals on days when they were served food on a flight, or at a committee meeting.
Senate administration and auditors have gone so far as to compile a master list of committee meetings showing whether breakfast, lunch or dinner was served, the invoice number, and the list of senators present. The Citizen obtained a portion of the master list.
These data are being used to determine whether senators could have eaten food provided for them rather than claiming expenses for a meal.
There have been questions about postage for a handful of Christmas cards mailed across Canada and over the border. Auditors have also been asking about the details of phone calls on Senate-issued smartphones, trying to ascertain which were for personal reasons (limited personal calls are allowed under Senate rules).
Audits are almost finished on about half a dozen senators. But even these front-of-the-pack audit subjects won't see the final results until at least February. The audit process gives senators 30 days to respond to final results of their individual audits. That timeline suggests the public release of the overall Senate audit will stretch beyond April.
Auditor general Michael Ferguson had initially said he expected the final report to be made public before the end of March.
On Thursday, Ferguson's office changed its tune after receiving detailed questions from the Citizen. On its website, the office said a final report would be out some time in the spring, dropping any reference to March.
The review of Senate spending has been detailed beyond anything senators had expected.
In meetings with senators, auditors have asked about specific expense claims that appear questionable or problematic. If the senator has a plausible explanation that satisfies auditors, the concern or specific claim is likely to be dropped from the final report; if the answer doesn't satisfy auditors, the concern and answer are to be referenced in the final report.
Many senators have opted to pre-emptively pay back hundreds of dollars in claims – a small amount given the millions spent by senators annually.
In all, auditors have to ask questions of about 120 past and present senators. Each senator will then receive a final report, with a 30-day response period.
Ferguson's office wouldn't comment further on timelines or process.
"As with all our audits, we do not comment on scope, progress, methodology, timelines or findings while audit work is underway," said Françoise Guyot, the office's director of communications.