JOHN Weston stands behind Prime Minister Stephen Harper in light of the recent controversies hitting the Canadian Senate and the Prime Minister's Office.
"He would be the first to say he's taking lumps for what persons have done on his team and that's what accountability is all about," the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP told the Powell River Peak during a phone interview. "He stood up day after day and answered questions as clearly as he could in the House."
The controversy began with the disclosure of an investigation into expense claims made by four senators, then escalated when Nigel Wright, Harper's former chief of staff, wrote a $90,000 cheque for Conservative Senator Mike Duffy to reimburse his expenses.
When Harper came into office in 2006, the first step he made was to introduce the Accountability Act, Weston said, the most sweeping law of its kind.
Having set high levels of accountability, what Harper didn't do was say that every person that was appointed by him and every person elected as a Conservative would abide by those levels, Weston added. "All he did was set in play the rule of law and one that Canadians have generally embraced," he said.
"Obviously I'm disappointed to hear the allegations that somebody was claiming for reimbursement of expenses that he did not expend and along with most Canadians, I welcome the fact that he's under scrutiny by two different agencies."
Meanwhile, the government has brought in 11 new measures to require more clarity and increased accountability of senators, Weston said.
"I applaud those things," he said. "I continue to seek senate reform in a much more profound way than would be indicated by these expense issues."
Weston said he thinks the country should have an effective senate that is elected and equal and has some sense of regional equality.
"I think it's an important institution that can help broker regional differences over not just six months or eight months, but over the next centuries of Canadian history," he said.
As well, Wright is going to be investigated by the ethics commissioner, Weston said, and what happened will be revealed in the course of time. "All we know is that Nigel Wright wrote a cheque, he was acting on his own devices, the prime minister has disavowed any knowledge of the matter until it was done and he immediately accepted the resignation of Nigel Wright after it was done," he said.
Last week, Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber resigned from the Tory caucus, writing on his website that "I barely recognize ourselves, and worse I fear that we have morphed into what we once mocked . . . I can only compromise so much before I begin to not recognize myself."
Weston pointed out that like Rathgeber, he was among a group of 11 Conservative backbenchers who stood up in April to voice support for the right of all MPs to speak in the House regardless of the wishes of their party leaders.
"I continue to believe there will be more parliamentary renewal," he said. "I believe it's better to effect change from within than without."
As for Rathgeber's comments that Conservative backbenchers were like trained seals, controlled by the PMO, Weston said the remark was "disappointing, intemperate and untrue."
Weston said it's important to keep the big picture in mind and all the good things that have happened in the six years since Harper became prime minister, including having the best economy and banking system in the world.
He had dinner with Harper last week, Weston added. "We talked about his two children, about being a parent, about life and I went away thinking, isn't it great to have a guy that you can relate to who has been so exemplary in working hard, in doing things right, in aiming really high in accountability and inevitably setting himself up for disappointment when one of the hundreds or thousands of people who work with him falls below that bar.
"Whether or not we're Conservatives, we should be proud that we have somebody who can relate to grassroots Canadians, is an upstanding person with a dedication to community and family. Those are things most Canadians can relate to."
