Former broadcaster Pamela Wallin steps down from Senate

She was made an officer of the Order of Canada in 2007, in part because of her accomplishments as a broadcaster.

Wallin became a household name after being named a co-host of Canada AM in 1981. She was tapped to lead CTV’s Ottawa bureau in 1985 — making her the first woman to head a national television bureau in Canada — and was the producer and host of the network’s flagship political show Question Period.

She broke ground again in 1992 when she became the first woman to co-anchor a nightly news show in Canada — CBC’s Prime Time News.

Wallin had surgery for colorectal cancer in 2001 but continued a tour to promote her book at the time.

In 2002, she was named consul general to New York.

Wallin was appointed to the Upper Chamber in 2009 by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

She became a key figure in the 2013 Senate expenses scandal after an audit found about $140,000 of the $500,000 in travel expenses she had billed to the Senate were improper because they were related to her work on corporate boards.

In May 2013, Harper’s chief of staff asked her to leave the Conservative caucus in the Senate.

During an interview with The National that year, Wallin apologized and said she did not “deliberately set out to use the system or abuse the system.”

She attributed the mistakes to carelessness in dealing with mounds of paperwork and said she didn’t pay enough attention to her expense filings.

In September, when she repaid some $150,000 — including interest — a defiant Wallin blamed what she described as a “lynch mob” mentality in the Senate.

She was suspended without pay from the Senate in November 2013 over disallowed expenses, along with Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau.

Her Senate suspension was lifted when Parliament was dissolved for the 2015 election.

She has recently been a member of the Canadian Senators Group.

Wallin, who is from Wadena, Sask., represented her home province in the Senate. She is two years shy of the mandatory retirement age of 75.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2026.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Former broadcaster Pamela Wallin steps down from Senate

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