Stephen Harper's first elected senator could come from Prince Edward Island as a way to fill the province's open chair at the federal cabinet table after it chose to shut out the Conservatives in Monday's federal election.
A spokesman for Premier Pat Binns said yesterday the Conservative premier is open to the idea of holding an election to fill the outstanding vacancy in the Senate, but he is still waiting for details from prime minister-designate Stephen Harper on how the federal government will proceed to bring in elected senators.

Peter McQuaid said Mr. Binns expects the Conservatives' regional minister, Peter MacKay, to represent the province in cabinet, much like Mr. MacKay's father, Elmer, did after the 1988 election. "It's not a top priority since we expect we'll be represented at cabinet, but the premier has indicated he is open to it," he added.

The Conservatives' election platform proposed starting Senate reform by "creating a national process for choosing elected senators from each province and territory." During the election campaign, Mr. Harper made it clear he does not intend to name appointed senators to his cabinet to fill empty regional seats.

P.E.I., which re-elected all four Liberal incumbents, is the only province to shut out the Tories on Monday night, failing to give Mr. Harper an MP from the island to appoint to cabinet.

Senator Gerry St. Germain, who was the first Progressive Conservative to leave his party to join the Canadian Alliance, said elected senators have been a concern of westerners for many years and he does not expect Mr. Harper to delay calling elections to fill vacancies.

A candidate for cabinet because of his role in uniting the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative party, Mr. St. Germain said electing senators to fill current vacancies is the first step toward Senate reform.

If overseen by the province, the election of a P.E.I. senator would likely be held in the fall, when the province is holding its municipal elections, to minimize the cost to taxpayers.

A recent newspaper column in the Charlottetown Guardian speculated that Mr. Binns could run as a candidate for the Senate in order to sit in cabinet for the island, but the premier said a few days later that he has no interest in the Senate.

Percy Downe, one of three Liberal senators from P.E.I., pointed out there is no guarantee a Conservative would win the seat in an election since Liberals and members of other political parties would surely run for the open posts. He said Liberals did not run in recent Senate elections in Alberta because prime ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin had made it clear they would not appoint the senators-in-waiting.

In addition to the P.E.I. vacancy, there are four other openings in the Senate, including two for Ontario and one each for New Brunswick and Newfoundland.

New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord is on record as saying he supports the idea of elected senators.