Harper Appoints Three Defeated Tories to Senate

Josée Verner, Larry Smith, and Fabian Manning will be charged with providing Parliament with sober second thought.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, long-time advocate of an elected Senate, appointed three Tory candidates who lost in the election to the upper chamber today. Josée Verner, Larry Smith, and Fabian Manning are the recipients of the pretty dandy consolation prize, which will let them serve in perpetuity without having to face one of those pesky elections any time soon. To be fair, though, Smith and Manning had resigned their Senate seats to run in the last election, but that didn't stop Opposition Leader Jack Layton (it still feels weird saying that) from slamming the appointments as a “slap in the face” of voters.