OTTAWA - Canada's first female ``elected'' senator is a low-key Conservative party loyalist who can't recall an instance when she has disagreed with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on policies related to Alberta.
Betty Unger said she would be prepared to publicly challenge Harper if she believed her province was being treated unfairly.
``If it was an issue that I felt was against Alberta's interests, I would try to be involved . . . I would be prepared to defend my province,'' she said in an interview in her Parliament Hill office.
Asked if she'd go public to challenge the Harper government, rather than simply lobby caucus colleagues in private, she replied: ``Yes.''
Policy disputes between the Harper Conservatives and the Alberta government are rare, though one broke out last week when Immigration Minister Jason Kenney rejected the province's plea for a doubling of its immigration quota under the Provincial Nominee Program.
Unger said she was unfamiliar with the issue.
``Prime Minister Harper advocates mainly for jobs and the economy. Those are subjects that are near and dear to the hearts of Albertans because of our oilsands, our industries our proposed pipelines,'' she said, referring to the stalled Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast and the proposed Northern Gateway megaproject to link oilsands crude to Asian markets via the British Columbia coast.
Unger, who once ran a private health clinic, touched on other issues that interest her.
``I care about health care, especially for seniors. I care about children. Elder abuse is an issue relating back to seniors. I care about that. Those would be my main focus areas.''
While acknowledging health is a provincial government responsibility, she said ``something needs to be done'' to reform the system.
``I think in Alberta we spend the largest amount of money per capita on health care and yet I continually hear things aren't improving. Our wait lists seem to have come down for a bit, and now they've gone up. So that's an issue I care about.''
Unger's ties to private health care were cited by then-Liberal minister Anne McLellan in her razor-thin victory over Unger in the 2000 federal election in Edmonton West.
Unger was asked if Canada has to bring in more private-sector health care involvement to improve efficiency.
``I guess the answer is yes because the status quo isn't working, so you have to try different things. And private health care exists already, in every province in Canada. You know, when I need glasses . . . if I pay for an MRI.''
Unger was born in Sexsmith, Alta., and has lived in Edmonton since her student nursing days. She left nursing to create Medico Mobile Ltd., a company that provided medical testing for life insurance firms and companies dealing with occupational health issues. She sold the company after 25 years.
Unger and her husband, who has since died, were early supporters of Preston Manning's Reform party, abandoning the old federal Progressive Conservative party four years before Reform's 1993 election breakthrough.
Betty Unger said she would be prepared to publicly challenge Harper if she believed her province was being treated unfairly.
``If it was an issue that I felt was against Alberta's interests, I would try to be involved . . . I would be prepared to defend my province,'' she said in an interview in her Parliament Hill office.
Asked if she'd go public to challenge the Harper government, rather than simply lobby caucus colleagues in private, she replied: ``Yes.''
Policy disputes between the Harper Conservatives and the Alberta government are rare, though one broke out last week when Immigration Minister Jason Kenney rejected the province's plea for a doubling of its immigration quota under the Provincial Nominee Program.
Unger said she was unfamiliar with the issue.
``Prime Minister Harper advocates mainly for jobs and the economy. Those are subjects that are near and dear to the hearts of Albertans because of our oilsands, our industries our proposed pipelines,'' she said, referring to the stalled Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast and the proposed Northern Gateway megaproject to link oilsands crude to Asian markets via the British Columbia coast.
Unger, who once ran a private health clinic, touched on other issues that interest her.
``I care about health care, especially for seniors. I care about children. Elder abuse is an issue relating back to seniors. I care about that. Those would be my main focus areas.''
While acknowledging health is a provincial government responsibility, she said ``something needs to be done'' to reform the system.
``I think in Alberta we spend the largest amount of money per capita on health care and yet I continually hear things aren't improving. Our wait lists seem to have come down for a bit, and now they've gone up. So that's an issue I care about.''
Unger's ties to private health care were cited by then-Liberal minister Anne McLellan in her razor-thin victory over Unger in the 2000 federal election in Edmonton West.
Unger was asked if Canada has to bring in more private-sector health care involvement to improve efficiency.
``I guess the answer is yes because the status quo isn't working, so you have to try different things. And private health care exists already, in every province in Canada. You know, when I need glasses . . . if I pay for an MRI.''
Unger was born in Sexsmith, Alta., and has lived in Edmonton since her student nursing days. She left nursing to create Medico Mobile Ltd., a company that provided medical testing for life insurance firms and companies dealing with occupational health issues. She sold the company after 25 years.
Unger and her husband, who has since died, were early supporters of Preston Manning's Reform party, abandoning the old federal Progressive Conservative party four years before Reform's 1993 election breakthrough.
``It was (my husband) Jim who said one day, `You know, this party doesn't represent us any more. It doesn't stand for the things we believe in,' '' she said during the 2000 election campaign.
``The Reform party came along (and was) more fiscally conservative, family values, those kinds of things.''
Unger joined the Reform party in 1989, when Harper was founder Preston Manning's young policy architect. She ran unsuccessfully in Edmonton in the 2000 federal election for the Canadian Alliance, Reform's successor, and in 2004 came second in the Alberta senator-in-waiting election to Bert Brown with the help of federal Conservative organizers and supporters.
The independence of senators from political parties has been a key element in proposals to build a credible elected upper chamber, said B.C. political commentator Gordon Gibson - who co-wrote a 1981 proposal for a Triple-E Senate, working with political scientist Peter McCormick and Manning's late father Ernest, the former Alberta Social Credit premier.
He pointed out that the 1981 proposal deliberately sought to disassociate party politics from Senate elections to ensure senators' independence. Senators would, for instance, sit in regional rather than party caucuses.
Gibson said Senate elections, especially those dominated by political party machines, won't necessarily elect strong regional voices.
``An electoral process doesn't necessarily select better people than an appointive one. One need only look at some examples in the House of Commons,'' said Gibson, who now opposes Senate reform because he fears a democratically empowered upper chamber would act as a ``conveyor belt,'' shipping money from rich provinces like B.C. and Alberta to poorer regions.
``The Senate was deliberately designed by the framers as an appointed body and with that foundation has done little harm and much good.''
Unger, 68, said her main objective in the seven years she'll have in the chamber before hitting mandatory retirement at age 75 is to champion Senate reform.
Taking on the role of Senate reform champion will see her follow in the footsteps of Brown, who placed first in the 2004 senator-in-waiting election and was tapped to fill a vacancy by Harper three years later.
Unger came second in that vote and was finally appointed by Harper in January and sworn in last week. She will collect a $132,300 annual salary.
Brown, whose $331,000 in travel and other office expenses topped all senators in 2010-11, has spent much of his time since the appointment publicly promoting a ``Triple E'' chamber - elected, effective and with equal representation from all provinces.
Atlantic Canada now has 30 of the 105 seats in the Senate despite having around seven per cent of Canada's population, while B.C. and Alberta - with roughly one-quarter of the population - together send just a dozen senators to Ottawa.
The government has legislation before Parliament that would set nine-year term limits and establish a mechanism calling for prime ministers to appoint nominees elected in provincial elections.
The government has acknowledged there is no appetite for constitutional negotiations that would require the support of seven provinces representing half of Canada's population to create a Triple-E Senate.
``The Reform party came along (and was) more fiscally conservative, family values, those kinds of things.''
Unger joined the Reform party in 1989, when Harper was founder Preston Manning's young policy architect. She ran unsuccessfully in Edmonton in the 2000 federal election for the Canadian Alliance, Reform's successor, and in 2004 came second in the Alberta senator-in-waiting election to Bert Brown with the help of federal Conservative organizers and supporters.
The independence of senators from political parties has been a key element in proposals to build a credible elected upper chamber, said B.C. political commentator Gordon Gibson - who co-wrote a 1981 proposal for a Triple-E Senate, working with political scientist Peter McCormick and Manning's late father Ernest, the former Alberta Social Credit premier.
He pointed out that the 1981 proposal deliberately sought to disassociate party politics from Senate elections to ensure senators' independence. Senators would, for instance, sit in regional rather than party caucuses.
Gibson said Senate elections, especially those dominated by political party machines, won't necessarily elect strong regional voices.
``An electoral process doesn't necessarily select better people than an appointive one. One need only look at some examples in the House of Commons,'' said Gibson, who now opposes Senate reform because he fears a democratically empowered upper chamber would act as a ``conveyor belt,'' shipping money from rich provinces like B.C. and Alberta to poorer regions.
``The Senate was deliberately designed by the framers as an appointed body and with that foundation has done little harm and much good.''
Unger, 68, said her main objective in the seven years she'll have in the chamber before hitting mandatory retirement at age 75 is to champion Senate reform.
Taking on the role of Senate reform champion will see her follow in the footsteps of Brown, who placed first in the 2004 senator-in-waiting election and was tapped to fill a vacancy by Harper three years later.
Unger came second in that vote and was finally appointed by Harper in January and sworn in last week. She will collect a $132,300 annual salary.
Brown, whose $331,000 in travel and other office expenses topped all senators in 2010-11, has spent much of his time since the appointment publicly promoting a ``Triple E'' chamber - elected, effective and with equal representation from all provinces.
Atlantic Canada now has 30 of the 105 seats in the Senate despite having around seven per cent of Canada's population, while B.C. and Alberta - with roughly one-quarter of the population - together send just a dozen senators to Ottawa.
The government has legislation before Parliament that would set nine-year term limits and establish a mechanism calling for prime ministers to appoint nominees elected in provincial elections.
The government has acknowledged there is no appetite for constitutional negotiations that would require the support of seven provinces representing half of Canada's population to create a Triple-E Senate.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Peter O'Neil
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