Canadian Senate reform momentum builds

OTTAWA, May 22 (UPI) -- The Canadian province of Manitoba has announced it will participate in hearings on whether to abolish or reform the federal Senate.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been seeking reform of the non-elected upper house since being elected in 2006, and has met with varying degrees of support from provincial premiers, the Globe and Mail said Thursday.

Jonathan Hildebrand, a spokesman for Manitoba Premier Gary Doer's socialist New Democratic Party government told the newspaper while abolition of the body is Doer's goal, the province would hold elections to see if citizens wanted an alternative system.

Alberta and Saskatchewan support an elected Senate, while British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell told the newspaper he's in favor of abolition, but would support an elected senate only if the federal government shouldered the costs of the transition.

As it stands, the Senate has 105 members appointed by the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister.