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Kinsella went on to say in his statement that the rules allowing senators to claim a housing allowance if their home is more than 100 kilometres from Parliament Hill are similar to ones in place for MPs. “However MPs are not required to maintain a home in their ridings,” he wrote.

“Mr. Mulcair’s unfounded personal attack on a Liberal and a Conservative senator from New Brunswick amounts to an attack on his own NDP members,” Kinsella wrote. “While Thomas Mulcair as the Leader of the Opposition is given a house in Ottawa, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and the Speaker of the Senate all must make their own housing arrangements in Ottawa.”

Senators have told reporters at various points during the spending scandal that has engulfed the upper chamber for almost a year that tough questions should also be asked of elected representatives in the House of Commons. But Kinsella’s statement was the first time he stepped into the political fray that until recently he has avoided.

Unlike his counterpart in the House of Commons, the Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the prime minister and has the right to vote on bills and take part in debates in the upper chamber. Kinsella avoids doing both as a matter of principle, believing he needs to have an air of neutrality, yet he remains a partisan like any other senator.

Kinsella came under fire in the House of Commons Wednesday because he has claimed a secondary housing allowance for a home he bought in Ottawa before becoming a senator. Kinsella, who also oversees the Senate committee that supervises senators’ expenses, represents New Brunswick, where he also owns a home.