Once upon a time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's statements of outrage against government waste and cronyism sounded more convincing. That time was when he and the Conservatives were in Opposition.
When the federal Liberals were caught with their hand in the cookie jar of the Quebec sponsorship program, Harper and his Reform/Alliance/Conservative allies were right to raise a great noise of outrage.
But saying, "I'm not happy," and "I'm very upset" when it's your own senators and your own (now resigned) chief of staff, is not enough.
We brought up the sponsorship scandal, and so did Harper when he spoke to reporters for the first time about how the senators he appointed - Mike Duffy in particular - seem to have an interesting understanding of how much money they are owed by taxpayers.
Harper should stop talking about what the Liberals did a decade ago. Yes, it was bad. It's why they're now only the third largest party in the House of Commons.
The Conservatives, on the other hand, have been in power since 2006. They have held a majority government since 2011.
But as with every government that hangs on to power in Ottawa for more than a year or two, Harper now has his own list of scandals, including Bev Oda's taste for expensive orange juice and limo rides and Peter MacKay's use of a search and rescue helicopter to go fishing.
Harper cannot pretend to be pure and above it all. Obviously, a thorough investigation of the senators and of former chief of staff Nigel Wright is needed. But all of these people were appointed by Harper.
We need not question Harper's personal integrity to question his judgment. Why are those he handpicked to help lead Canada now embroiled in scandal?
We deserve a more complete answer than platitudes and blaming the last government.
Harper needs to not only mouth regrets, he needs to lead the cleanup.
