Senate
On September 15, 1994, at the recommendation of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn appointed Carstairs to the Canadian Senate. Carstairs had supported Chrétien's campaign to become party leader in 1990.
She held the position of Leader of the Government in the Senate from January 2001 to December 2003, and also served as Minister with Special Responsibility for Palliative Care in Chretien's cabinet.
She did not serve in the cabinet of Chretien's successor, Paul Martin, when he took office in December 2003.
From April 2006 until December 2009, Carstairs continued her earlier work in cabinet by serving as chairperson of the Special Committee on Aging which issued a report that helped get palliative care added to the core curriculum in Canadian medical schools. She also helped create the Canadian Virtual Hospice, a website with information on palliative care.
Read more about this topic: Sharon Carstairs
Famous quotes containing the word senate:
“I think the Senate ought to realize that I have to have about me those in whom I have confidence; and unless they find a real blemish on a man, I do not think they ought to make partisan politics out of appointments to the Cabinet.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“At first I intended to become a student of the Senate rules and I did learn much about them, but I soon found that the Senate had but one fixed rule, subject to exceptions of course, which was to the effect that the Senate would do anything it wanted to do whenever it wanted to do it.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“It took six weeks of debate in the Senate to get the Arms Embargo Law repealed—and we face other delays during the present session because most of the Members of the Congress are thinking in terms of next Autumn’s election. However, that is one of the prices that we who live in democracies have to pay. It is, however, worth paying, if all of us can avoid the type of government under which the unfortunate population of Germany and Russia must exist.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)