Editor:
I am quite pleased to see that Ms. LeBreton and her confreres have clarified the Senate residency requirements. I now need only declare in a written statement that I am a resident of any province or territory and declare that I hold $4,000 of property in that place to qualify for the Senate.
In both instances, I am quite readily able to make the declaration. The first declaration is not subject to
scrutiny or validation, so it is simply afiat on my part. No one is qualified or allowed to dispute it. In the second case, my modest retirement savings include shares in Canadian corporations that hold all kinds of property everywhere in the country. It is beyond my ken and anyone else’s to dispute that the property requirement has not been met.
As far as the Canada Revenue Agency (a government authority
if there ever is one) is concerned, shares in Canadian corporations are ‘property’. Et Voila! I am qualified for the Senate. And I can legitimately claim the housing allowance since I don’t currently live in Ottawa. Now all I need is a vacant Senate seat, a large dose of sycophancy directed at the PM, and, “Bob’s Yer Uncle”, I’ll be in, set fer the ‘Life of Riley’!
The only foreseeable problem is being able to stomach the bile that goes with the sycophancy. Maybe a few Rolaids will do?
Frazer Smith,
Rice Point
