The New Democrats are ramping up their anti-Senate message with a new website that calls for the abolition of the Red Chamber amid a growing expense scandal.
The site, , says 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to abolish the Senate,鈥� claiming the insitution will cost Canadians $92,500,000 this year 鈥渁fter a budget boost from Stephen Harper.鈥�
The site also says the average senator worked just 71 days last year and that 31 senators missed more than a quarter of their work days.
鈥淯nelected, unaccountable senators represent the parties that appoint them 鈥� not the Canadian people,鈥� the website says before asking people to sign a petition.
鈥淲e want to get rid of the institution, we think it鈥檚 a vestigial organ that can be removed without any harm to the body,鈥� NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair told CTV鈥檚 Power Play on Wednesday.
鈥淲e know it鈥檚 a complex proposition but if you don鈥檛 start the work of getting rid of it, it will never get done.鈥�
Mulcair said the current expense scandal involving senators Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin is yet another reason to remove the Senate from Canada鈥檚 governance structure.
He noted that the NDP鈥檚 has held its view of the Senate 鈥渇or 50 years.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something that came up in the past two weeks.鈥�
