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OTTAWA – The Senate will no longer hear from two speakers Wednesday who were scheduled to help denizens of the maligned upper chamber “feel better about themselves.”

But a Senate spokeswoman says a “discussion” about their appearance is still set to take place.

“The staff sessions scheduled for tomorrow have been cancelled until further notice, pending discussion with the full committee of internal economy,” spokeswoman Annie Joannette said in an email.

At the request of the Liberal leader in the Senate, James Cowan, the new chair of the internal economy committee Gerald Comeau cancelled the speakers Tuesday, hired in the midst of a raging scandal over the abuse of taxpayers’ money by senators.

It is not yet known who made the final decision to hire them.

Former chair of internal economy, Conservative Sen. David Tkachuk, said he never approved it.

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“I did not hire anybody. I did not approve of this nor did steering (committee) approve,” he wrote in an email.

Marjory LeBreton, government leader in the Senate, said the idea was discussed in principle at a meeting of the internal economy committee’s steering committee. But it was never approved by members of the committee.

“I was shocked when I saw that (email invitation),” LeBreton said outside the Senate chamber.

Asked if she thinks hiring speakers is a waste of money, LeBreton responded: “At this point in time, I certainly do.”

All senators, their staff and Senate employees were invited to attend talks by communications consultant Barry McLoughlin and motivational speaker Marc-Andre Morel.

It was not immediately clear how much the Senate was going to pay for the speakers, but a representative from McLoughlin’s office said he would not be charging a cancellation fee.

According to an email sent out by the Senate clerk’s office, the pair were to talk about what it describes as “the enduring value of the Senate and help bring a little perspective to the current situation.”

The subject line of the email invitation told recipients that “the Senate values you and the work you do – come find out why.”

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However in a subsequent email to Global News, a Senate representative said that the purpose of the event was not to provide “motivational” messages about the Senate or to discuss issues involving individual senators.

“Instead it was focused on helping bring perspective to recent issues facing the Senate,” read the email.

The talks were scheduled for Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. ET – when the Senate is supposed to be sitting.

McLoughlin’s biography bills him as “one of North America’s leading communications consultants;” his company specializes in training politicians, governments and corporations in how to deal with the media.

Morel is touted as an internationally-renowned expert on “the themes of personal and professional success.”

The Senate has been rocked for the past six months by a scandal involving four senators and their alleged abuse of living and travel expenses.

In the case of Sen. Mike Duffy, the scandal is now under investigation by the RCMP. Duffy accepted a $90,000 “gift” from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s then-chief-of-staff, Nigel Wright, which he used to reimburse his improper expense claims.

Both Liberal and Conservative senators seemed dumbfounded that the pair had been hired to give discouraged Senators a pep talk.

“It’s an outrageous approach to a very serious issue which has taken place in the Senate of Canada,” said Liberal Sen. Jim Munson.

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As a member of the internal economy committee, Munson was particularly furious that the committee had not been consulted on the matter.

“It’s a comedy of errors what’s going on here in the lack of consultation. We’re talking taxpayers’ money and this wouldn’t come cheap.”

During the expenses scandal, it emerged that the Senate administration had rejected numerous expense claims from Duffy but had not alerted the internal economy committee to his noticeable pattern of invalid claims.

Comeau, who became chair of the internal economy committee last week, said he knew nothing about the hiring of speakers.

“I don’t need a motivational speaker to tell me what I have to do here,” said Conservative Sen. Jacques Demers. “I just come here and try to do the best I can every day.”

James Cowan, the Liberals’ Senate leader, confessed to being surprised, and said he was not interested in attending the talks.

“I intend to be in there (the Senate chamber) tomorrow afternoon, not at some session for motivation.”

Still, Cowan acknowledged that the scandal has discouraged everyone who works in or for the Senate.

“When these kinds of controversies arise, then inevitably it tarnishes everybody’s reputation, the good and the bad. So, it’s not good but we’ll get over it.”

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