But I wonder what he really thinks...

I've been wondering how Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson feels about Police Chief Vern White's Senate appointment. This may be a clue. Here's the mayor answering a question from "Steve" during his monthly on-line chat. Steve wanted to know whether Watson would himself accept an appointment to the Upper House:

"Absolutely not. I believe the Senate has outlived its usefulness and in the 21 st century to have an unelected group of people deciding laws in Canada should not be acceptable. My view is that the Senate should be abolished. The next best option would be to have it elected, but as we have seen in Washington, when you have two competing elected bodies, you have a recipe for gridlock. We could also save tens of millions of dollars by abolishing the upper house. There are some very good and hardworking senators, and I respect some of the work they do, but as someone who is an ardent supporter of democratic principles, I couldn't in good faith accept a senate seat (Don't think I'm on anyone's sort list !)"