Dear Stephen,

I was very interested to hear that you had chosen some new senators. And a little disappointed, although not surprised, given the shoddy system of a non-elected senate that we have put up with for a hundred years. I actually found a quote of your very words, that you did not view the senate as a "dumping ground for favoured cronies". Well, Stephen, how do you explain your recent choices? Your old campaign manager? President of the party? Senior advisor? Really! These would certainly fit that description.

The CBC report that brought this to my attention actually said that after these appointments the senate would be about 50/50 liberals and conservatives, implying more fairness in its decision making. There is nothing fair about a non-elected senate whose members enjoy huge pensions and benefits paid by taxpayers who had nothing whatever to do with putting them there in the first place.

Show us you care for Canada, Stephen, and, instead of appointing your buddies, bring in the senate reform you and your predecessors have claimed is so important to our democratic system.

I, for one, am very sick of paying these elitists for nothing so they can live happily ever after. If they are such great Canadians, they should run for the position and jump through the hoops like everybody else in government. That reform could be a very simple thing, if you chose it to be. I remind you that the government exists to serve the people who put it there.

Sincerely, Teresa Wild