Ontario MPP Bob Runciman Heads List Of Five New Senators Named By PM
Posted January 29, 2010 7:31 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Ontario Tory MPP Bob Runciman heads a list of five new senators named by Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday.
Also named are Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu from Quebec, Vim Kochhar from Ontario, Elizabeth Marshall from Newfoundland and Labrador, and Rose-May Poirier from New Brunswick.
The appointments give the Conservative government a plurality of seats in the upper house.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office called the appointments “another step toward implementing the government’s tackling-crime agenda and respecting the will of the democratically-elected House of Commons.”
“Our government is serious about getting tough on crime,” Harper said in the statement. “Since we were first elected, we have made it one of our highest priorities.
“The Liberals have abused their Senate majority by obstructing and eviscerating law-and-order measures that are urgently needed and strongly supported by Canadians.”
Runciman is a veteran Ontario politician from eastern Ontario, serving in Queen’s Park for almost 30 years. He’s been appointed to five different provincial cabinet posts, including solicitor general and public safety minister.
Boisvenu, whose daughter was murdered in 2002, is a champion of crime victims’ rights. Kochhar is an India-born businessman and chair of the Canadian Paralympic Association.
Marshall is former auditor general of Newfoundland and a member of the legislature since 2003. Poirier is a businesswoman and former New Brunswick cabinet minister.
The newly appointed senators, Harper said, are “committed to community safety and justice for the victims of crime.”
The incoming senators have pledged to support the government, said Harper, who has prorogued Parliament until March.
The appointments are effective immediately, with the exception of Poirier’s, which is effective Feb. 28.