Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you for joining us, Mr. Van Loan. It's a pleasure to meet with you again. You stated that many people are unaware of who their senator is. That's very true. I would have to say that a great many Canadians don't know who their MP is either. Everyone in my riding knows who their senator is. If MPs don't know the name of their senator, then I'd have to say that it's up to us to do our job. This is part of our mandate.
I would like to talk about one senator in particular. I think you know where I'm going with this question. I'm talking about Senator Fortier. Since setting foot in this room, you've been going on about an unelected Senate which is not accountable to the House of Commons. And yet, your leader, the Prime Minister of Canada, himself appointed someone to the Senate who is now not only a senator, but also a minister. According to our Constitution and our traditions, a minister is accountable to the House of Commons and must answer the questions put to him by elected officials during Question Period.
Therefore, I'm having a very hard time understanding your government's position and Mr. Fortier's situation in particular, all the more so given that people say the Senate should be more representative of the people. Mr. Fortier ran for office at least once, in 2000. I should know because he ran against me in the riding of Laval—Les Îles. The voters in this riding rejected Mr. Fortier. When the last elections were called, he said that he had no intention of running as a candidate. He preferred instead to stay in the Senate.
How do you reconcile your belief that an elected Senate would be democratic with the fact that your leader appointed a person to the Senate and gave him a portfolio and that this individual sees no need to run for office, regardless of the constituency?