Prime Minister Harper recommends elected senator

The Prime Minister's Office has issued a statement that the Governor General will be called upon to appoint Bert Brown, Alberta's "Senator in waiting" to the upper chamber on the pending retirement of Senator Dan Hayes (Lib-AB).

PRIME MINISTER HARPER ANNOUNCES INTENTION TO APPOINT ALBERTA SENATOR-IN-WAITING BERT BROWN


April 18, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that in keeping with the principles of Bill C-43, the proposed law that would enable Canadians to vote for Senators, Canada’s New Government intends to appoint Alberta Senator-in-waiting Bert Brown to replace retiring Alberta Senator Dan Hays.

“The retirement of Senator Hays, after nearly a quarter-century of service to Canada, creates the first opportunity for our government to appoint a Senator who has been endorsed by Canadian voters,” Prime Minister Harper said. “No Canadian has done as much to advance the cause of Senate reform as Bert Brown. He has been a tireless advocate for democratization of the Upper House for over two decades. He ran in three Alberta Senate elections and is the only Canadian to be elected twice as a Senator-in-waiting. In short, he is a perfect role model for elected Senators, and today’s announcement demonstrates that our Government is serious about moving forward on Senate reform.”

Mr. Brown, 69, is a Calgary-area zoning and property development consultant. Over 300,000 Albertans voted for him in the province’s 2004 Senate election, when he ran under the banner of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party.

Prime Minister Harper reiterated that his government’s long-term goal is to see all Canadian Senators elected. “I call on the Opposition parties to join us in democratizing the Red Chamber by passing Bill C-43,” the Prime Minister said. “Canadians recognize that the time is long overdue for the Senate to attain democratic legitimacy.”

Senate sittings open on sombre note

Senators opened their sitting yesterday with a moment of silence to commemorate the loss of nine Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Question Period

In question period, Leader of the Opposition, Céline Hervieux-Payette (Lib-QC), questioned the government on why senior ministers were absent
from celebrations relating to the silver anniversary of the signing of the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and cited that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff, Ian Brodie, had once written about the "ill-effects" of the charter. Government leader Marjorie LeBreton (Cons-ON) responded that the Minister of Justice was, in fact, involved in the day's celebrations.

Later, Senator Marilyn Trenholme Counsell (Lib-NB) suggested that the government had been deceptive in its Health Care Wait Times Guarantee. In response, Sen. LeBreton reminded the chamber that health care is a provincial responsibility, and that the government is delivering additional funding to the provinces. Sen. Counsell was not satisfied, suggesting that provinces were "bribed" with federal funding
to sign on to the agreement. Sen. LeBreton called the "bribe" comment "irresponsible."

Debate

The Senate resumed debate on the "Murray-Austin" motion, to increase western represenation in the Senate. The original motion proposed to increase
British Columbia's representation from six to 12; Alberta from six to ten; Saskatchewan and
Manitoba each from six to seven. An amendment to the motion, make by Senator David Tkachuk (Cons-SK) would increase British Columbia's representation to 24.

On the amendment to the motion, Senator Pierrette Ringuette (Lib-NB) spoke against it. She argued that the confederation negotiations provided that balance would be regional, that regionalism was an
integral part of the negotiation for the then Lower Canada as a counterweight to representation
by population, and that Senatorial Divisions have, by precedent, only been added with the
addition of territory - not by the increase of population as is the case with the motion to amend.

Sen. Tkachuk closed debate on the amendment, pointing out that, as Prime Minister, Jean Chretien's government recognized British Columbia as a region,
and that it was unfair that the province be represented by only six senators while the Atlantic
provinces are represented by 30, with a lower population.

Debate on the main motion was put on the order paper.

Other bills debated included amendments to the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security Act, the Public Service Employment Act, and the Divorce Act.

Senate of Canada resumes April 17, 2007

The Honourable Noel Kinsella will resume his place in the Speaker's throne in the Senate on April 17, 2007.

The first order of business will be resumption of second reading debate on Bill C-36 (amendments to the Canada Pension Plan and the Old Age Security. Summary of the bill is here.

Other items being considered include Bill C-18 (omnibus bill amending certain acts in relation to DNA identification), and the federal budget.

Senate Government Bill S-4, limiting senate tenure to eight years, was referred to committe on February 20, 2007.

A private member's bill to watch, introduced in the Commons by Pablo Rodriguez (Lib - Honoré-Mercier), is bill C-288, calling on the government to "meet the obligations of the Kyoto treaty. The Conservative government opposes the legislation, but the Liberals have a majority in the Senate.

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Canadian Senate Digest blog reports and comments on the activities of the Senate of Canada, its committees, members, its past and future.

In particular, it has been created, as information and comment solely on the Senate of Canada is difficult to obtain.

We believe that this is important, as Senators remain near the centre of our nation's decision making process, and, in our system of responsible government, need to be held accountable for their decisions and actions.