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OTTAWA – Former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro calls his recent charges under the Canada Elections Act “an accounting dispute” and finds no similarity between his situation and those of three senators who may lose their pay and privileges.

“In my case there’s not a dime of public money involved. Not a dime. And I’m into an accounting dispute. A dispute over timing with no public money involved,” he said.

“This is an alleged abuse of public funds. It’s completely different.”

Del Mastro said he “absolutely” feels for what Senators Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau and Mike Duffy are going through.

“Anyone that’s in our caucus had the opportunity to get to know these three individuals. I think certainly it’s a tragic situation,” he said.

“I don’t think anybody is happy that this is the situation they find themselves in.”

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Facing four charges in connection with allegations that he exceeded campaign spending and falsely reported election expenses in the 2008 election, Del Mastro continues to sit as an independent MP since leaving caucus in September.

“That was my decision,” he said of leaving caucus. None of the allegations have been proven.

But he stopped short of criticizing the Conservative Senate motion to suspend the senators and strip them of pay for up to two years .

While he said it appears the rules around expenses could have been clearer, as pointed out by the Deloitte audits, Del Mastro said it’s up to the Senate to decide how it wants to police itself.

“Is there any question as to whether or not they charged expenses that they weren’t entitled to charge? Likely the answer to that is yes. There’s some confusion around what was charged, how it was charged and why, and how they were different than other senators. And we don’t have those answers yet,” he said.

“This is a decision that the Senators have to make.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has made it clear he supports the motions to suspend the three senators he appointed.

Del Mastro calls Harper’s position “principled.”

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“If you’re caught abusing your privileges at work not too many employers would simply say you know what, just shoot the money back and we’ll call it square,” said Del Mastro.

“The position that the prime minister has taken on this I think is a principled one that reflects the view of Canadians.”

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Unlike senators, Del Mastro said he will ultimately be judged by the Canadian public.

“I’m not held accountable by fellow MPs. I’m accountable to the people that elected me. So there’s a stark difference, and a stark contrast between Members of Parliament and Senators in that regard. I have to go back every four years. I have the ultimate job performance review, whereby 115,000 people are going to make a determination as to whether or not I represented them well. That doesn’t happen in the Senate,” he said.

“There’s no comparison between people that have a democratic mandate and people that are appointed. People that are appointed are not accountable to everyday Canadians.”

And to that end, Del Mastro is confident he’ll rejoin the Conservative caucus in time for the next election.

“I don’t think there’s any question,” he said.

“It is my intention to run in the 2015 election.”

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