Saskatchewan Party members have announced they have voted overwhelmingly in favour of abolishing the Senate. Eighty-six per cent of the 3,727 party members who participated in the mail-in vote supported abolishing the Senate.
The Saskatchewan Party initiated the membership referendum last month after Premier Brad Wall said he would like the issue revisited in light of recent events involving the Senate. The Saskatchewan Party had previously defeated a resolution to abolish the Senate at its party convention last November.
Wall says he believes the party vote reflects the overall view of Saskatchewan people.
"For a long time, many Saskatchewan people, myself included, wanted to see meaningful reform to create Senate that is elected, effective and equal," Wall states.
"It is now painfully clear that's never going to happen, and we continue to have a Senate that is unelected, unaccountable and unnecessary, and that costs Canadian taxpayers nearly a hundred million dollars a year.
"The original intent of the Senate for regional and provincial representation has been achieved in many respects by the decentralizing of the federation over the decades and the strong voices of provincial governments on behalf of their interests.
"We could do without this unelected institution."
