A constituency of millions: "elected" senators discuss alternatives to operating a province-wide constituency office.

• Position: Interview with Senators Doug Black and Betty Unger - Interview

Interviews with Senator Doug Black and Senator Betty Unger

Unlike Members of Parliament who are elected to well-defined constituencies, it's unusual for Canadian Senators to operate constituency offices in their efforts to represent their home provinces/regions. Former Senator Bert Brown of Alberta, who was appointed to the Senate after a province-sponsored election process, ran an office in Calgary as a part of his efforts to be an active representative to the people of his province; but in separate interviews with the Canadian Parliamentary Review, two current "elected" Senators from the province, Senators Doug Black and Betty Unger, suggest they prefer to employ alternatives to a stationary physical space in their outreach and consultations.

Senator Doug Black

CPR: Senators do not usually have constituency offices. As an "elected" Senator with a direct mandate from your constituents, do you feel a particular need to have something like a constituency office to represent constituents and communicate with them?

Doug Black: Unlike a Member of Parliament or a Member of the Legislative Assembly in the respective province, my constituency is a complete province, which in the case of Alberta, is just over four million people. As you know we have six Senators for four million people. I am an elected Senator, and I was fortunate that in that election I won 83 or 84 of the 87 (provincial) constituencies in the province. So I have constituents in literally every city, town and hamlet in Alberta. I take my responsibility to be in touch with my constituents seriously, and it's a daily responsibility in one way or another. So the question becomes, would an office assist that? My view is no. The whole concept of a physical space is an old paradigm particularly when you're dealing with a province the size of Alberta. Where would I locate my office? What I have done is maintain a very active website and a very active social media presence. We are also doing regular online surveys. So we're asking my constituents what they think and they are responding, there's no doubt about that. I'm always soliciting people's views. Secondly, I'm in regular touch with the Alberta media and we also have good relationships with the cultural community media. So as we're reaching out to people they know that Senator Black is active. And finally, I maintain an active travel schedule in Alberta. Just this past weekend I spoke at a French school in Calgary, met with the mayor...