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But pride is not the sentiment many voters are expressing to their MPs, judging by the blowback they are hearing in their ridings. “We’re taking the heat on the doorstep because of the behaviour of an unelected senator,” said one Conservative MP.

Sorry is always the hardest word for this Prime Minister, who is now en route to Peru for no apparent good reason, beyond the fact it gets him the hell out of Dodge.

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“We have heard from Canadians loud and clear. They want us to continue our efforts. They are asking us to accelerate those efforts. The Senate status quo is not acceptable,” Mr. Harper said.

To raise the prospect of Senate abolition in response to an expenses scandal that threatens his own office, however, suggests the goal was to distract an angry public with a proposal guaranteed never to come true, experts say.

“He knows that the abolition of the Senate is not possible,” said Errol Mendes, editor-in-chief of the National Journal of Constitutional Law. “You have to ask what’s the agenda there. He’s probably the most brilliant tactician and strategist Canada has seen. So what’s the strategy? I’m starting to wonder whether he knew from the very outset that all these plans [for reform or abolition] would be a no go.”

Long a key plank of the Tory platform, the federal government first asked the Supreme Court this year for guidance on Senate reform. The questions, for which oral arguments will be held this year, include whether Parliament on its own can impose elections and term limits on senators, or abolish the chamber altogether.