Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That intervention gave me a bit of time to think about it, and to my knowledge, I do not remember ever meeting a member of the New Democratic Party who wanted to become a senator or who had that as their ambition in life.
The member said he has been around a fair bit longer than I have, but in political terms, maybe not so much. I might only be 35, but I will be celebrating my 20th anniversary as a member of the New Democratic Party just next spring.
It is something that is completely counter to what New Democrats believe in. We have never believed in having our own version of the House of Lords. We have never believed that people of privilege should be given even more privilege, and then not even really be held to account. There are terrible transparency and accountability issues within the Senate.
I do not think it is a part of our democratic institutions that we want to keep. Therefore, the answer is no. I have never met a New Democrat who wants to be a senator.