CALGARY – Employment Minister Jason Kenney says he hopes what has happened to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright won’t discourage other top achievers from being willing to work for the Conservative government.

“Obviously, he made a significant error in what I would have characterized as an uncharacteristic lapse of judgment but I hope that does not send a negative message to people,” Kenney said.

“We want to encourage people of real achievement to be willing to make sacrifices to go into public service and I hope they will continue to do that.”

Kenney had nothing but praise for Wright’s decision to take the job in the prime minister’s office in the first place.

“Mr. Wright made huge sacrifices to leave an extremely remunerative position in the private sector, he took an enormous pay cut to do public service. I think we should all honour that willingness to engage in public service.”

Nor is the job an easy one, he said.

“Political staff positions are difficult at the best of times, whether in government or opposition. There’s not a lot of people willing to work 16 hour days, seven days a week in that kind pressure cooker environment.”

Kenney’s comments came after a week that saw Harper distance himself from his former chief of staff and sharply criticize his role in the Senate expense scandal that has gripped the Conservative government.

Saturday, Senator Irving Gerstein, head of the Conservative Fund, broke his silence and joined the attack on Wright’s credibility, calling into question the account that Wright gave RCMP officers investigating the affair.

According to documents filed by police in order to get production orders, Wright told police that the Conservative Fund was initially prepared to provide the money to reimburse Duffy’s expenses when it was believed it was $32,000 but balked when they discovered it was $90,000. However, Gerstein told delegates there was never any question of the Conservative Fund being used to pay back Duffy’s housing allowance.

“I made it absolutely clear to Nigel Wright that the Conservative Fund of Canada would not pay for Senator Duffy’s disputed expenses and it never did,” Gerstein said to enthusiastic applause from delegates.

However, acknowledged that he did okay the party footing the bill for Duffy’s legal expenses.

“At the request of Nigel Wright, the fund did agree to pay legal fees limited to a maximum of $12,000 plus HST because at the time Senator Duffy was a member of the Conservative caucus and you know the fund sometimes assists caucus members with legal expenses as do other parties.”

Gerstein did not say whether Harper was informed of the deal to pay Duffy’s legal bills.

Duffy revealed the existence of the $13,560 payment to his lawyer last week as he fought motions that would suspend himself, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau without pay until the next election. A vote on the controversial motions is expected this coming week.

Duffy told the Senate that Wright arranged to have his legal fees paid after he sought assurances that repaying the money wouldn’t be viewed as a guilty plea. Duffy cited the decision to repay the legal expenses as proof that Harper believed there was nothing wrong with his claims.

“He did this because, as I said from the start, this was all part of his strategy, negotiated by his lawyers and the Conservative Party’s lawyers to make a political situation embarrassing to his base, go away. He took their money – I suspect, I can’t prove it yet. I suspect he took their money, the base’s money, to pay off – to make … this all go away.”

If the base was upset, however, with the decision to write the check to cover Duffy’s legal tab, there was little sign of it in the reception Gerstein got from delegates to the Conservative convention.

While some Conservatives wish the Senate expense scandal would go away, Kenney said it will continue to attract attention when MPs return to Parliament this week.

“Obviously that is going to continue as an issue in Question Period and in media coverage until there has been full accountability for senators who violated the rules of their expense accounts.”

The Senate will continue to be an issue in the long term as well, Kenney said.

“We’re not done with the Senate issue until we have an elected, democratic and accountable Senate. The prime minister was very clear about that last night. We are going to push forward with vigorous efforts towards Senate reform.”

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