Harper appoints 7 Senators with Conservative ties

The Globe and Mail:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has further assured the allegiance of the Red Chamber with the naming of seven new senators, many of them with strong ties to his Conservative Party.

The group includes a former Conservative MP, a failed Conservative candidate and a Conservative organizer. Also included is Betty Unger, who ran unsuccessfully for the Canadian Alliance and placed second in a Senate election in her home province of Alberta in 2004.

Mr. Harper came to office in 2006 vowing not to appoint unelected senators. But he reversed that position in late 2008, naming 18 people, most of them known for their service to the Conservative Party.

Charlie Angus, the NDP critic for democratic reform, whose party would like the Senate abolished, said it is clear that Mr. Harper is intent on filling the Chamber with Tory partisans. “It seems the only qualification to get a job in Ottawa is to have flipped pancakes at Conservative fundraisers,” he said.

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