Dallaire, Eggleton among 9 new senators

[Stunt]

source

Dallaire, Eggleton among 9 new senators
Last Updated Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:22:31 EST
CBC News

OTTAWA - Romeo Dallaire, the 58-year-old retired Canadian general who headed the United Nations peacekeeping mission during the Rwandan genocide, is among nine new senators named by the prime minister Thursday.

Another of Paul Martin's choices was Art Eggleton, 61, who served as the mayor of Toronto from 1980 to 1991 and later held several cabinet positions in the federal Liberal government.
Paul Martin explains his choice of senators on Thursday.

Eggleton had to resign from his post as defence minister in 2002 over conflict of interest allegations, and did not run for re-election in 2004.

The other new senators are:

* Jim Cowan, 63, of Nova Scotia.
* Nancy Ruth, 63, of Ontario.
* Lillian Dyck, 59, of Saskatchewan.
* Robert Peterson, 67, of Saskatchewan.
* Grant Mitchell, 53, of Alberta.
* Elaine McCoy, 59, of Alberta.
* Claudette Tardif, 57, of Alberta.

"What we've done is to nominate outstanding Canadians," Martin said Thursday, just after announcing the appointments.

Of the nine appointees, Martin's office said six will sit in the Senate as Liberals, including Dallaire and Eggleton; Ruth and McCoy will sit as Progressive Conservative senators (the old federal party designation still exists in the Senate, along with the newer Conservative Party of Canada designation); and Dyck is supposed to represent the New Democratic Party.

But the NDP immediately said it won't recognize Dyck because official party policy calls for the abolition of the Senate. She is not a member of the NDP, and the party will encourage her to sit as an independent, spokesperson Karl Belanger told the Canadian Press.

Martin, who delayed making the appointments for more than a year after becoming prime minister in December 2003, has said he agrees the Senate could be overhauled to become more democratic.

Despite vowing to address the issue of Western alienation, none of the new members are those who had been unofficially elected by Alberta voters, who embrace the idea of an elected Senate.

Seven more Senate vacancies remain for Martin to fill; he said there will be more announcements next week.

Members of Canada's Senate hold their positions until they are 75 years of age, unless they die or choose to retire earlier.

I am fully supportive of dallaire getting this position, he has done a great service for his country and has been through a lot. For those who are unaware as to who this man is, please look here...he is literally a living legend.
Also, i'm interested to hear some opinions about the appointed senate and perhaps the lack of balance due to few PC appointments during the mulroney years. This has been part of the reform platform for years, i have no idea what the new Conservatives have to say on the issue, but lets hear some opinions. Perhaps some comments from americans on the elected senate...maybe something about the high re-election rates and perhaps some pros/cons.

As a side note, i recommend this documentary for those who are interested in the Rwanda genocide from dallaire's perspective: here

Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire
The Film, winner of the Documentary Audience Award at the Sundance Film
Festival, follows Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire's first trip back to Rwanda 10
years after the genocide, in which over the course of 100 days in 1994
over 800,000 Rwandans were brutally murdered. It chronicles the UN
mission and the valiant efforts of the small Peacekeeping team sent to
Rwanda over a decade ago.
Powerful and at times graphic, the documentary only begins to show you
the horrors of the genocide and the continued ignorance on the part of
Western nations.

 

[RabidMongoose]

Romeo Dallaire sounds like an interesting and possibly good choice.

 

[Stunt]

hey Rabid...have you seen that documentary?...and are you familiar with Dallaire?

 

[RabidMongoose]

Originally posted by: Stunt
hey Rabid...have you seen that documentary?...and are you familiar with Dallaire?

No, I haven't seen the documentary. Yes, I'm familiar with Dallaire - he's pretty well known.. I'm not aware of his political views or current duties and that is why I said 'possible' instead of definite good choice. From a solely personal or human standpoint, he seems like a great choice and a great man.

 

[Stunt]

Yeah i'm the same thing, i've read and seen things about him, no idea his political alliances...although he was put in under the liberal umbrella. I was just wondering if he was well known outside of Canada and if the documentary made as many waves there as it did here.
I expected you to know him as you have lived here and he seems to be in the news a lot.

 

[sandorski]

I too support Dallaire. His experiences practically killed him, but they have made him a better person as well. His strength of character is a big plus. Not sure of the others though.

Overall, I wish the sitting government would just appoint Senators from Provinces(such as Alberta) if those Provinces use Democratic means to select them. AFAIK there is no Constitutional reason to not appoint in this manner as it's totally up to the Governing Party to choose Senators upon any criteria they choose. Not sure if this is the official policy of the Conservatives or not, but I think they'd be willing to do just that, at least they'd entertain the idea. In itself that issue wouldn't cause me to vote for them though, they need to drop some of their Republican clonage before I'd vote for them, especially on Economic policy where they were even less Fiscally Conservative than the bloody NDP in the last election.

 

[Kibbo]

The reason that the Liberals are leery about that is that the elected senators would then have more influence than the non-elected ones, since they would have more legitimacy.

Also, an elected senate would have more legitimacy than it does now, possibly leading to some roadblocks for legislation.

Better to get rid of the thing, IMO.