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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

RICHARD NEUFELD: In fact it’s worth pointing out Harper’s Conservative Government introduced (and reintroduced) a number of Bills on Senate Reform during its years in office


REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION:Richard Neufeld is a senator for British Columbia and a member of Senate committees on National Finance; the Arctic; and Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources. He was formerly B.C.’s minister for energy, mines and petroleum resources

Last month, respected journalist Daphne Bramham wrote a piece on Senate reform and addressed how it is becoming increasingly more transparent. She seemed, in my view, to attribute this change to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Independent Senators.

CLICK HERE for her full op / ed piece

To my dismay, what I read was an inaccurate assessment of Canada’s Upper Chamber. The fact is changes have been taking place well before Trudeau became Prime Minister. I submitted a piece to the paper to set the record straight on a number of inaccuracies in the article, but it failed to make the cut.

I appreciate and respect the paper’s editorial prerogative to refuse submissions, but I have difficulty accepting that factual errors – not opinions or commentary – appeared in the article.

For those who may be interested, I hope you will read my response, which follows:






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