Mr. Speaker, on March 1 British Columbia Senator Len Marchand will step down, leaving a vacant seat in the Senate.
To fill that seat, British Columbians want to choose a senator who will represent provincial concerns and will serve British Columbians as opposed to just another Liberal hack appointed by the Prime Minister whose only loyalty is to the Liberal Party.
B.C. already has a law on the books which allows for British Columbians to elect their next senator. Before the last election, the current Prime Minister promised that the Liberal Party would establish an elected Senate within two years of its forming government.
Yet in the last three years, the Prime Minister has appointed more political hacks to the Upper House than Mulroney did in nine years in Parliament. So much for Liberal integrity.
Now is the time for the Prime Minister to put the democratic rights of the people ahead of the political interests of their party and allow British Columbians to elect their next senator.