Banff - Airdrie Conservative MP Blake Richards is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to respect the will of Alberta voters when he appoints a new Alberta Senator.  

He says if Trudeau fails to do that he'll be breaking his promise of "open and transparent" Senate appointments and will be thumbing his nose at the will of Albertans.

An Alberta senate vacancy opened up on February 2nd with the retirement of Senator Claudette Tardiff.  Richards says this gives Trudeau the perfect opportunity to appoint a democratically elected Senator from Alberta.

"Alberta has a long, proud history of electing Senators through Senate nominee elections.  Should they not abide by this democratic process the Liberals would be thumbing their nose at the will of Albertans.  I demand the Prime Minister respect the democratic wishes of Albertans when filling this vacancy."

In 2012, Albertans elected three Senators in waiting, Doug Black, Scott Tannas and Mike Shaikh.  Black and Tannas were appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, leaving only Shaikh still waiting for a position.  Richards believes Shaikh still has a mandate from Albertans which means he should get the appointment.

"In my mind, it seems like it should be a no-brainer that if a Prime Minister is true about his words that he wants to have an open and transparent process to elect Senators, he would respect the wishes of Albertans in exactly that, an open and transparent process, where someone was chosen democratically to be put in place in the Senate and he would make that appointment."

On Thursday (March 29) a letter was sent jointly by all Alberta Conservative MPs to the PMO demanding Trudeau make the appointment.  Richards, who is the Shadow Minister of Democratic Institutions for the Conservatives, also urged all Alberta Liberal MPs to properly represent their constituents and join in the appeal to the Prime Minister.

"I would expect that any Member of Parliament that is elected to represent Albertans would do just that.  They shouldn't be representing the Prime Minister's wishes to Alberta and defending any appointment he would make other than this.  They should certainly be supporting what Albertans have chosen as their representatives.  That would certainly be expected of any Alberta MP."

Jason Kenney, Leader of the United Conservative Party in Alberta, has also called on Trudeau to appoint Shaikh to fill the Senate vacancy.  

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