Christy Clark says B.C. won't participate in Senate appointment

Premier Christy Clark announced today that B.C. won’t be participating in the new process outlined to appoint senators, saying it hasn’t addressed the problems that have persisted for years.

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“It has never been designed to represent British Columbians or our interests at the national level,” Clark said in a statement and then later on Twitter.

“Our position has not changed: the Senate should be fixed or folded but we should not be distracted by it.”

The new process established by the Trudeau government will see the creation of a five person advisory board to fill empty seats in the senate early next year. The board will be independent and will be guided by public, merit-based criteria to create non-partisanship in the senate.

“Our priority remains a strong economy and job creation. We will continue to work with the federal government in the many areas where we can strengthen our province and our country, together,” said Clark.

Many people took to twitter to express their dismay at the Premier’s decision:

@christyclarkbc Senate should be elected and the Senators should not have any affiliations with any political party. #SoberSecondThought

— SpaceOddIsHe (@SpaceOddIsHe) December 3, 2015

@christyclarkbc thats disappointing, longtime bc liberal and think that we can be more accommodating. This is good proposal. — Lori King (@1loriking) December 3, 2015

@christyclarkbc of the Conservative Party. Why not? You don’t like non-partisanism? @bcndp #bcpoli @liberal_party Quit hijacking “Liberal”

— Bonstad (@bonstad) December 3, 2015

@christyclarkbc Do not complain when BC doesn’t get any representation in the Senate. You’re doing a disservice to your province. — isabella (@bellabride73) December 3, 2015

Absolutely stupid & childish “logic.” Still taking orders from Harper and your fellow CONs, eh @christyclarkbc ? A joke. #bcpoli #cdnpoli

— Hyper_Canadian (@Hyper_Canadian) December 3, 2015

@christyclarkbc well at least she wont have to waste time deleting all the emails pertaining to the senate! — MEB (@mebhead) December 3, 2015

As well as the announcement of the new advisory board, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a new speaker of the Senate, the Honourable George Furey.