OTTAWA — Premier Christy Clark put a damper on the post-election honeymoon for the new federal government, saying Thursday she wants nothing to do with Justin Trudeau’s plans for Senate reform.

Trudeau’s Liberals announced they will be setting up five-person advisory committees that will provide the prime minister with a list of candidates to fill empty Senate seats.

In each province where there is a vacancy, two of the five members will be named by Ottawa after consulting with the provincial government, while the other three — essentially acting as permanent roving committee members for the duration of their terms — are to be appointed by Trudeau.

New senators in the Trudeau era are expected to be non-partisan reviewers of legislation, while acting as representatives for Canada’s regions and minority groups.

Trudeau’s new minister for democratic institutions, Maryam Monsef, immediately expressed confidence that the premiers would play along.

“We have entered a new era of collaboration between the different levels of government, and we are looking forward to working with our provincial and territorial partners,” she told a news conference.

She pointed to last month’s hug-filled first ministers’ gathering to discuss climate change and the refugee issue.

“As you’ve seen, in the last four weeks we’ve been in government, every time that hand has been extended, that door has been opened, it’s been well-received by the provinces and territories.

“We see this as another positive step toward strengthening those relationships.”

But no hands were extended, nor doors opened, on the West Coast.

“B.C. will not participate in the process outlined today to appoint senators,” Clark said in a terse statement.

“Today’s changes do not address what’s been wrong with the Senate since the beginning. It has never been designed to represent British Columbians or our interests at the national level.”

“Our position has not changed: The Senate should be fixed or folded, but we should not be distracted by it.”

While she didn’t spell out her objections, the Senate has long been criticized in B.C. because the Constitution reserves only six of its 105 seats for the province — or less than half what B.C. would warrant if seat distribution were based on population.

Clark said that the provincial government’s priority is the economy, and “we will continue to work with the federal government in the many areas where we can strengthen our province and our country, together.”

Scott Reid, the Conservative critic on democratic reform initiatives, said an unelected committee advising Trudeau on how to appoint senators isn’t progress.

“This new process isn’t democratic, it isn’t transparent, and it isn’t real Senate reform,” Reid said. “Already, the British Columbia government has made clear it will not take part in this process because it does nothing to address that province’s actual concerns. “

Liberal Senate appointee Larry Campbell, the former Vancouver mayor, acknowledged that B.C. is badly shortchanged under the current Senate.

Like each of the three Prairie provinces, B.C. has six seats in the 105-seat upper chamber, or 5.7 per cent of the representation, despite having roughly 13 per cent of the national population.