Mr. Speaker, in British Columbia I have done random testing and most British Columbians can name only one of our six senators, Pat Carney.
It goes without saying that if facing elections five of our six might as well not even file. We are in danger of becoming the only western democracy sleep walking into the 21st century without an elected Senate.
Recently I spent some time with some American senators and congressmen. They were very interested in the workings of the Canadian Parliament and in some of the democratic reforms which the Reform Party promotes.
I had a simple response to their questions about the Canadian Senate. Canadians understand that in the United States if one wants to become a senator one has to win an election, but in Canada one has to lose an election.
When is the government going to fix this dysfunctional setup?