With Senate retirement required at age 75, retired Alberta rancher Bert Brown has less than 13 years to get there.
He is convinced that he will someday be sworn into the Red Chamber, despite prime minister Jean ChrŽtien’s April 7 decision to appoint Edmonton big band leader Tommy Banks to an Alberta Senate seat.
“I think I very likely will get there, especially with what I see happening with the Canadian Alliance,” Brown said from his Kathyrn home.
Brown claims a unique right to a seat in Canada’s unelected Upper Chamber of Parliament.
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In 1998, under provincial law that is not recognized as legitimate by Ottawa, Brown received more than 300,000 votes in an Alberta election to pick two senators-in-waiting.
Brown, supported by Canadian Alliance MPs in the House of Commons, has been campaigning to have the federal government honor that election result.
He said an official in ChrŽtien’s office promised in late March there would be no appointment until the prime minister met with Brown to discuss the issue sometime before April 20.
Brown said the April 7 appointment that broke that commitment isn’t surprising.
“I’ve had prime ministers try to seduce me on the Senate issue many times, hoping to get me on side. I expect it.”
He said his best hope for a Senate seat is the election of a Canadian Alliance government.
But he also is working at the provincial level in Western Canada to increase the number of provinces that hold Senate elections.
He has a commitment from Saskatchewan Party leader and provincial opposition leader Elwin Hermanson that he would support provincial Senate election legislation.
Brown said premier Roy Romanow should jump on the bandwagon, since the NDP traditionally are anti-Senate.
