[In addition to the Senate's administration, Sen. Oliver took aim at the recent rounds of Senate appointments Prime Minister Paul Martin has made.] Not one was a visible minority, ... How can that be?

[There's a business case for diversity that has nothing to do with money, Sen. Oliver told The Hill Times .] If you have 10 visible minorities and you put them in a room to resolve an issue, their conclusions will be much better, ... Conclusions that are diverse are always better than if you have the same white guys in black suits making decisions. We need diverse points of view from diverse people.

In the House, people are elected and Canadians have said that there's nothing wrong with voting in brown or black people, ... This indicates that the people of Canada want Parliament to be reflective of society as opposed to the Prime Minister who hasn't appointed one visible minority to the Senate.

The Senate's lack of diversity is so glaring and so problematic to the future of our institution that it heightens the desire of many Canadians to have our Upper Chamber abolished because it is irrelevant and unrepresentative of Canada's cultural mosaic,

It's disgraceful and shameful, ... It's in the senior and middle management positions where the Senate's record is especially shameful.

The only person who's let me down is Paul Martin, ... I hope I can see some changes. Visible minorities are terribly un-represented and concerns about the Senate are controlled 100 per cent by the Prime Minister. Someone needs to account for it--accounting starts with the Prime Minister.