The scrums: Senate reform, Liberal leadership

Three highlights from this afternoon’s post-Question Period scrums:

1. NDP MP Peter Julian on how senators would react to an NDP government: I would expect that senators would understand that there is a tide of public opinion running against them because of the scandals we’ve seen over the last few weeks, and the fact that Canadians implicitly understand that an undemocratic nominated upper chamber that is inhabited by partisan nominations is not appropriate for a vigorous democracy that we want to have in this country.

2. NDP MP Charlie Angus on the conduct of Senator Anne Cools: The fact that our House of Commons’ democratically elected members are actually being held hostage by the likes of Anne Cools, I mean, come on, this woman, would she have a job anywhere else if she wasn’t appointed to the Senate till she’s 75? This is an outrage that she is accusing a Parliamentary Budget Officer, respected across Canada, of interfering with her privilege.

3. Liberal MP Wayne Easter on the Liberal leadership race: Anything can happen in terms of the supporter category. You have to get them out to vote. You don’t know why some of them have signed up so it’s a trial and error. Nobody is taking anything for granted. I think Justin [Trudeau]’s been doing a great job out there on the campaign. He’s been tested pretty hard by Marc Garneau and some others.