(Ottawa) A senator resigned Monday from the largest parliamentary group in the upper house, before a hearing was held to consider expelling her.
Senator Marilou McPhedran resigned from the Independent Senators Group (ISG) because she did not think she would get a fair hearing.
Marilou McPhedran declared in his letter of resignation to the GSI secretariat that the hearing “seems to predetermine a negative outcome for me”.
A hearing held to consider her deportation was held after she emailed all senators in September questioning how the House’s code of ethics was being enforced.
The Senator was also concerned about the Senate’s policy on preventing sexual harassment and disagreed with the ISG’s approach on this and other matters.
Senator Yuen Pau Woo, facilitator of the Independent Senators Group, said that Mr.me McPhedran had “been given the opportunity to defend himself at a fair and impartial hearing.”
“His resignation letter is an attempt to cast doubt on the integrity of the hearing itself and to raise issues that are irrelevant to the deportation hearing. By raising these issues outside of the hearing process, she also deprived members of the ISG of the opportunity to hear the case of her deportation and refute her allegations, ”he said.
Marilou McPhedran plans to stay in the Senate as an unaffiliated independent senator and says she feels “a relief and a sense of optimism” after leaving the group.
In a statement to The Canadian Press, she said: “During my five years as a senator, I have enjoyed my membership in the Independent Senators Group, but it is clearly time to leave and I feel sadness, but I also feel relief and a sense of optimism about what I will be able to do as an independent, unaffiliated senator. ”
She said in a statement that she looked forward to “working with senators from all groups and caucuses on legislation, issues and policies that advance the public interest.”
She said she wanted to focus on reform to lower the voting age to 16 as well as “Senate reform and modernization.”