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NEWS RELEASE |
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| February 6 , 2007 | For
Immediate Release |
LIBERALS
STALLING SENATE REFORM BILL
“Liberal Leader Stephane Dion can’t even get his own Senators
to do what he wants.”
Ottawa – Today, Saskatchewan M.P. Garry Breitkreuz accused the Liberals of using obstructionist tactics to delay a two-page bill that would set an 8-year term limit for Senators.
Here is what the member for Yorkton-Melville said in the House of Commons today:
| “Mr. Speaker, when I was elected in 1993 my constituents told me they wanted an elected, effective and equal Senate, and it is 13 years later and we are still waiting for Senate reform to start. Concerned Canadians can blame the Liberals for failing to act during the 12 years they were in power. They can continue to blame the Liberals for failing to act even though they were voted out of power one year ago. It has now been 262 days since Bill S-4 has been in the Senate. The unelected, unaccountable Liberal senators are filibustering and preventing this important bill from advancing. Canadians have told us they want term limits for senators. The Liberal leader has publicly said that he supports term limits for senators, yet this message seems to be lost on Liberal members in the other place. Is it that they just do not get it, or is it that the Liberal leader simply cannot lead his own caucus? When will the Liberal leader stop these obstructionist tactics and allow us to debate this very important bill in the House of Commons?” |
“Since the time of Confederation, the Senate was supposed to represent provincial interests in the federal Parliament, but it never got the job done because it has always been unelected, unequal and, for the most part filled, with patronage appointees. As a consequence, provincial governments have had to convene their own meetings to assume the role the Senate failed to deliver for Canadians. We desperately need to reform the Senate and the only way to achieve this objective is to take it one step at a time. The Liberals are opposed to democratic reform even when it comes in small doses,” concluded Breitkreuz.
BILL S-4 – An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Senate tenure) . . . click here
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CLICK HERE to hear the audio version of Garry's February 6, 2007 statement.