Senate Reform Dealt another Blow by
Martin said Komarnicki

Ottawa-“Prime Minister Paul Martin did not include any of Alberta’s four elected Senators in waiting to fill Alberta’s three appointments to the Senate. In filling nine Senate vacancies, throughout Canada, he chose a host of others, including former Liberal Cabinet Minister, Art Eggleton, who was demoted as Canada’s Defence Minister, when it was revealed he had given a former girlfriend a consulting contract,” said Ed Komarnicki, MP for Souris-Moose Mountain.

“Nothing really changes with the Liberal Party,” said Komarnicki. “They are arrogant. They say one thing and do another. Despite Martin’s promise of Senate reform, he’s not prepared to affect Senate reform, on either a piecemeal or whole scale basis.”

“Instead, he shows the arrogance of the Liberal Party by picking and appointing his own choices, while deliberately ignoring the will of the people of Alberta,” Komarnicki said. “It’s essentially a Prime Minister telling Westerners, and Albertans in particular, he doesn’t care what they think.”

“If we are going to have a Senate, then I am of the view,” said Komarnicki, “that as a first step in Senate reform, the Prime Minister should appoint the Senators who are provincially elected to fill vacant seats from that province. This can be achieved without Constitutional amendment and there is absolutely no reason not to have started now.”

If we want to resolve western alienation and unify our country we must ensure the Senate is more representative and more appropriately reflective of regional and provincial interests.

“It is no longer acceptable,” said Komarnicki, “to have B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba with 6 Senators each, for a total of 24, when Ontario and Quebec each have 24.”

“It is readily apparent that only a change in government will provide any hope for meaningful reform,” concluded Komarnicki.