Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and join him in congratulating the new Premier of Alberta.
Since she is bilingual, I am pleased to congratulate her in French.
I thank him for taking the time to list the criticisms of this bill that have been addressed, including by the former premier of his province, Don Getty.
Although my colleague said that Mr. Getty's criticism is speculative, it is not. It is arithmetic. Today Alberta has only six senators. We have provinces four to five times less populated that have 10 senators. It is a problem but it is not so huge because the Senate is playing its role with reservation.
Since 1945, the Senate has only blocked seven bills. If everyone in the Senate is elected, then it would be a part of daily life for the Senate to stop the House and the House to stop the Senate and six Albertans would have a voice on that. It would be grossly under-represented for Alberta. I question why he is hurting his province this way.