OTTAWA (Reuters) – Stung by provincial reluctance to hold elections for members of the Senate, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday promised to name more Conservatives to Parliament's upper house.
Harper said he will fill nine vacancies, to give his party 46 of the 105 seats in the Senate, which is designed to act as a chamber of "sober second thought" to the elected House of Commons. The main opposition Liberal Party has 53 seats.
"Until senators are elected, this government will ensure that we have in the Senate people who will work hard and will support the elected government of this country, and that includes passing our anti-crime legislation and passing our democratic reforms, which have been blocked in the Senate," he told a news conference in Quebec City.
Harper had previously promised to appoint only elected senators to the upper chamber. But only Alberta has so far held separate elections for senators.
Senators can change or block legislation, but any changes must be reaffirmed by the elected lower house. Traditionally they do not block crucial financial legislation.
Canadian media said one of the new senators would be former National Hockey League coach Jacques Demers, a popular figure whose 2005 biography -- written by someone else -- revealed he was functionally illiterate.
Harper declined to confirm or deny if that was the case, but Demers was present at Thursday's news conference.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer)
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