Last night, CTV News broke the story revealing Conservative senator Mike Duffy’s repayment of fraudulent housing allowance claims was orchestrated by the PMO. Up to date, we learn Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright personally paid Duffy $90,172 to cover for the housing allowance repayment. Senate rules reveal the gift may have broken conflict of interest rules while the PMO defends the action.

According to private emails extracted by CTV News, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright and Conservative Senator Mike Duffy made a secret deal during the audit to repay $90,172 in fraudulent housing expenses. The intent was to calm public outrage over the abuses of taxpayers’ money but has only raised more questions in a scandal that continues to dig deeper into the Harper government’s integrity.

Upon an audit made on the housing allowance and meal expenses of Liberal Senator Mac Harb and Conservative Senator Patrick Brazeau, and on travelling expenses of Conservative Senator Pamela Wallin, thousands of dollars will have to be repaid. Senate caucus meetings will take place tomorrow to determine if the forensic audits should be forwarded to the RCMP. This comes at a time when the relevance and legitimacy of the Senate are questioned and the Official Opposition argues the institution should be abolished.

It turns out that Conservative Senator Mike Duffy is out of breath running away from the media. With the controversy over his housing allowance gaining ever more spin, and a senate spending audit underway, Duffty decided he would pay back the funds he received admitting they were not entitled to him and he also claimed the situation to be a misunderstanding. Based on Duffy’s actions, it may be well worth questioning the authenticity of this action.

Stephen Harper’s recent defense of Senator Pamela Wallin’s travelling expenses in times of austerity should have raised a red flag. Add on top of that, Senator Bert Brown’s claim that asking for his traveling expenses is a “threat” and what we already know of Senators Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau and only one thing can be said: for Conservatives, it’s alright for senators to be loose with taxpayer money.

The senate is supposed to be a chamber of sober thought. Once the partisan House of Commons has finished getting legislation passed, the Senate is to revise it and amend it where necessary. In recent years, however, the senate has become as much a political obstacle as the House and not without its fair share of grievances  Canadians can fire a corrupt parliamentarian but getting rid of a corrupt senator is a much harder task.

Money may no longer grow on trees but that hasn’t stopped the Conservatives from spending it like there is no tomorrow. Don’t let their austerity fool you, as they cut the services that are vital for the Canadian economy to function, they are funding new senators, a campaign to inform Canadians about the death of the penny, and funny enough, spending much more than the amount that they cut as part of the austerity package.

Newly appointed Conservative Senators are finding their perks rather appealing – so appealing that they are cheating taxpayers to cash in. First Patrick Brazeau abused the system, and now Mike Duffy. We can all agree they should repay their takings and we all agree their expenses will never outweigh their salaries. We can, then, agree the housing allowance perk should be scrapped and the savings be refunded.

For a government that touted its record on public safety, this budget shows that its priority is anything but. Instead of cutting the bureaucrats they added when elected in 2006, the Conservatives took a direct assault on services Canadians need.

Flaherty’s new budget outlined the increase of retirement age from 65 to 67 but meanwhile the golden pensions of MPs remain in tact and will only be discussed this fall. Again, the Conservatives put ideology ahead of the wellbeing of the population, but don’t count on the opposition to provide a real alternative.