ABOLISH the Senate? No way. Not when it could benefit northwestern B.C. Here’s how.
B.C. has six Senate seats. Five are filled. One is vacant. Turns out a Senator can designate the area which he or she wants to represent. Four of B.C.’s current Senators chose the entire province. The fifth, Nancy Green Raine, chose the Thompson-Okanagan-Kootenay region.
So the sixth Senator, in adapting the Nancy Green Raine model, would come from – and represent – northwestern B.C.
The key word here is represent for that would be the expectation of this particular Senator – to act as an advocate for the northwest.
It would be an admittedly risky move for a government to take but at the very least it would have the comfort of selecting someone tuned to its way of thinking.
This in no way would diminish the role of northwestern B.C.’s elected Member of Parliament.
The Skeena - Bulkley Valley riding takes in a huge area, making it a challenge at the best of times to get around and keep track of issues. Having another person on the ground in the region and with access to Ottawa cannot be such a bad thing.
Of course, a northwestern B.C. Senator and a northwestern Member of Parliament may not come from the same party and may not always be in agreement. But if the goal is to make this a better place, than surely a couple of adults can figure that out.