Peter Mackay is going to get a pension. Some were trying to pass off this mundane fact as news last week. What was really concerning, however, was the level of pettiness and meanness that accompanied the coverage. One critic even accused Mackay of somehow having taken “advantage of the rules” by accepting his pension.It may seem strange, in the midst of the Senate expense scandal, to defend any payment to any politician. Many of the details of the scandal are appalling. Anyone who defrauded the government should pay a heavy price.But as the scandal builds, many are already turning their attention to the House of Commons and other levels of government. If there is rot within the Senate, they argue, then most likely all politicians are up to no good. And although the focus is on expenses, there is little question that it will also spread to the topic of remuneration.A healthy debate about the pay and expenses of our politicians could be a good thing. But if it is guided by vindictiveness, it will serve no other purpose than to dissuade talented people from running for office by tarnishing the profession even further.Those who scream the loudest generally fall into three categories: The first acknowledge that politicians need to be paid and claim the odd expense but, due to their natural sense of entitlement, need to be watched like a hawk through draconian rules — the guilty-until-proven-innocent crowd.Those in the second group simply think that politicians are overpaid and over-entitled. Politicians' salaries, expenses and pensions should be dramatically reduced because they are more generous than those received by constituents.And those in the final group see politicians as useless and undeserving. The only honest politician is one who refuses to participate in the system. They cheer whenever a politician brags that they never submit expense claims, or donate their pay increase to charity.We need to get a grip.Why can't we acknowledge that politicians have great responsibility and should be well-paid? They decide our taxes, our social supports and whether our soldiers will face combat. Ministers are in charge of departments that can have budgets in the billions of dollars and administer programs that countless Canadians rely on to survive. A pension, meanwhile, helps attract those who leave their profession during their best earning years and helps ease the often difficult transition to private life that many former members face. Pensions for Ontario MPPs were eliminated in 1996 and recent reforms will soon make the federal pension less 'gold-plated.'And what is the perennial criticism of our politicians? They are out of touch.The best way for politicians to change that is to get out there. To be effective, politicians need to leave their offices, see the country (or even other parts of the world) and start to understand the challenges facing Canadians. All of this costs money. And many of these costs are not in line with a coffee and a bagel at a small-town diner or staying at the local Holiday Inn.We also need to understand the independence of our elected officials. Part of the strength of our system is that elected members serve as an ultimate check on a government. Even the most dictatorial prime minister or premier knows that there are limits to what he or she can do because members will simply refuse to vote for it.Although we rarely see parliamentarians flex their muscles, maintaining their independence is crucial to maintaining our democracy. Independence is the reason that elected officials are not treated as employees that can summarily be dismissed by a prime minister or premier. This independence also gives members the opportunity to pursue public policy interests of their own choosing, and many become an informal voice for a particular cause.Putting in place an expense policy that recognizes this degree of independence is a daunting task. Rules have to be flexible and may involve members themselves determining what represents appropriate business. One of the main reasons that the Senate's expense rules are so vague is because senators are supposed to operate under the same principle of independence as their elected counterparts in the House of Commons or provincial legislatures.Then there is the issue of partisan work. No one wants the government to subsidize the work of political parties. That said, partisan work is part-and-parcel of being an elected representative and any expense system needs to acknowledge that both government and partisan work sometimes occur as part of the same trip or visit.And finally, when someone is elected they agree to certain conditions. Yes, they become important members of their community, are served by staff and have opportunities to travel. They also have to put in long hours, be away from family and have their personal life scrutinized and criticized.  And just like many other jobs, this post comes with a salary, benefits and an expense account. And just like these other jobs, workers have every right to expect them according to the terms under which they were offered.The Senate expense scandal is going to force all of our political institutions to review their rules about every sort of payment to politicians. We need to ensure that rules are fair and include a high level of transparency. But in approaching this exercise we also need to recognize that our politicians perform important work and deserve the pay, benefits and resources needed to undertake it. If critics believe that everyone in public life is mediocre, they are not going to attract better politicians by degrading and belittling the job to the point where no one wants to enter public life.John Milloy is a former Ontario cabinet minister who served as MPP for Kitchener Centre from 2003 to 2014.  Prior to that, he worked on Parliament Hill, including five years in the office of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.  He is currently the co-director of the Centre for Public Ethics and assistant professor of public ethics at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, and the inaugural practitioner in residence in Wilfrid Laurier University's Political Science department.  John can be reached at: [email protected] or follow him on twitter at: @John_Milloy.