Article content

For generations, Canadian senators have been appointed via a time-honoured process: Whenever the Red Chamber starts to look a bit empty, a Prime Minister looks at a list of names and ticks off all the ones he recognizes. That’s essentially how the Senate is consistently filled with political organizers and ex-MPs, with the occasional war hero and hockey star thrown in for colour.

But all that changed last October. With the election of a Liberal government, the seats of the Upper House were finally opened to the common people. A Senate seat can now be applied for with roughly the same amount of paperwork needed to become a parliamentary page.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Like Mike Duffy, but better: A National Post reporter applies for the Senate Back to video

I am a white, heterosexual male sociopath with only the slightest record of public service or caring for others. But none of this would make me the worst senator, per se — not even close. So, why not give it a try?

Minimum requirements

Senators are required to own $4,000 in real estate — a weird vestige of the days when anything government-related, including voting, was limited to property owners. So I arranged to buy a $4,000 chunk of a Victoria revenue property owned by my parents. Don’t worry; I won’t claim it as my primary residence or anything.