We’ve just been informed the Senate of Canada has been recalled to sit Wednesday, to deal with emergency Covid-19 legislation. Quorum for the Senate is just 15; only those who live within driving distance of the Senate, and can get there in a private vehicle, are to attend.
The rest of us will review the legislation from home, and forward our questions and concerns to our Senate colleagues in Ottawa. That way, we can still have a measure of regional representation.
I will do my best to make people aware of the particular challenges we’re facing in Alberta, with the double blow of Covid closures and collapsed oil prices. Because I know this is a dire time in Alberta.
What I think we all want is to get financial relieve to those who need it most as quickly as possible - and to give people the assurance that if they stay home to stop the spread, they will survive economically.
And I know every Alberta parliamentarian, regardless of party affiliation (or lack thereof) and regardless of whether they sit in the House or the Senate, will be working for the sake of Albertans -
- - even though very few of us will be able to be in Ottawa. As a province and a nation, we share one goal: to get us through this crisis and out the other side.
And I must express my deep gratitude to my fellow Senators, most of them from Ontario & Quebec, who will step up this week, when the rest of us can’t, to get this legislation passed. Merci et thank you.
