P.E.I. senator says Senate medal program too expensive

As part of the Canadian Senate's150thanniversary this year, senators were offered a dozen medals to give to leaders and volunteers in their communities and a medal to keep for themselves.

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But not all senators have taken the offer of a medal, or participated in handing out medals to deserving constituents.

P.E.I. Senator Percy Downe, for one, refused.

"Medals are normally awarded by government, and there's an approval process for it," Downe said. He believes the government made a mistake not offering medals for this occasion, but thinks the Senate shouldn't have forged ahead with its own.

"There's no question some of the people who received it are outstanding recipients, but setting that aside I wasn't convinced it was the role of the Senate to do that in isolation of the House of Commons and the government of Canada," Downe said.

$225K price tag 'excessive'

Another reason he voted against the program was the program's $225,000 price tag, which Downe said he consideredexcessive.

However, Downe and other dissenters were out-votedand the program went ahead.

Recipients were to be "residents of Canada who are deeply involved in their communities and who through generosity, dedication, volunteerism and hard work make their home town, community, region, province or territory a better place," according to the Senate's website.

P.E.I. Senator Diane Griffin decided to keep her medal, and along with Senator Mike Duffy handed out the medals at Government House recently, with P.E.I. Lt.-Gov. Antoinette Perry.

"I actually saw it as a positive thing," said Griffin. "The idea was this was to be a positive, well-intentioned thing to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Confederation."

'Educational purposes'

Griffin believes the anniversary is a significant milestone and worth the expense.

"This was relatively an inexpensive way to commemorate it as compared to some other projects that have been undertaken across the country," she said.

Griffin plans to place her medal on a wall in her office she calls her "Confederation wall."

"That all relates to the second purpose, of using it as a memorial and using it for education purposes," Griffin said, noting students often visit her office and she enjoys sharing the story of P.E.I.'s pivotal role in Confederation.

CBC received an e-mail from Mike Duffy's office explaining the medal process, but he did not want to do an interview about it.

Libbe Hubley, who retired from the senate this summer, also chose to receive a medal. CBC reached out to her, but hasyet to get a response.

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