Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must be looking at the Senate of Canada and wishing he had taken a different approach. There is no guarantee that the honourable persons that he appoints to the Senate will have any more restraint than the returning Senator Mike Duffy.
A judge has declared that Duffy’s sense of entitlement was neither illegal nor improper and that he was not guilty of all 31 charges laid by the RCM Police. Since Duffy did not believe he was doing anything wrong, he was therefore doing nothing wrong. It was a ringing endorsement of entitlement. Duffy actually believed that he was entitled to reap the rewards of the out-dated honour system. Prime Minister Harper told him to.
The quandary for Mr. Trudeau is that most elites such as Duffy are known to have a strong sense of entitlement. Elites seem to share that sense of entitlement. They are used to finest foods, luxury accommodation and others paying their bills. If the prime minister wants senators who will work cheap, travel cheap, eat fast food, and skimp on the expenses, he should only appoint poor people. Poor people break into a sweat if they take home a few paper clips from the office.
But he has a committee out there trying to find elite potential senators for him. If he tells this committee that he only wants poor but elite senator possibilities, the committee is going to quit on him. Being from the elite themselves, they probably only know elite people. They are unlikely to know any poor people.
Having been around many Senators during years of working in political environs, we have known many very fine senators who have served this country well. They had the right to be called honourable.
But many of the senate appointments made by Stephen harper showed the contempt that he had for the senate. The judge at the Duffy trial made a point of commenting on the way Mr. Harper treated his senatorial appointments. He appointed some of the worst and he therefore got the worst from them.
While Mr. Trudeau’s approach attempts to distance him from the selection process, as Prime Minister, he is responsible for the final choice.
If he needs help with the new standards, we would be happy to do a cross country tour to find him senate candidates. We would go to the most likely Walmart’s in each province. If you are looking for poor people, that is the ideal place to start.
-30-
Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]