Liberal leadership allowed ‘legally incompetent’ senator to vote months after dementia diagnosis

National Post ^ | August 27, 2012 | Glen MacGregor and Jordan Press

[Loyalist]

OTTAWA — The Liberal leadership in the Senate allowed a veteran senator to vote on legislation and spend public dollars for four months after she was diagnosed with dementia and declared legally incompetent.

Sen. Joyce Fairbairn regularly attended Senate sittings and voted along party lines before the Upper Chamber rose for the summer at the end of June.

Fairbairn was diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type by her geriatric psychiatrist in February, according to a letter sent to Senate officials by her niece, Patricia McCullagh.

It is unclear when the Liberals knew about the diagnosis, but by April, the top aide to Liberal Senate leader James Cowan had co-signed a declaration that Fairbairn was legally incompetent, according to a letter from McCullagh, obtained by Postmedia News.

McCullagh, Fairbairn’s closest relative, wrote to the Clerk of the Senate Gary O’Brien in August to warn of the senator’s worsening health, copying the letter to Cowan and Senate Speaker Noel Kinsella.

“As you know, Sen. Fairbairn has dementia of the Alzheimer’s type,” McCullagh wrote.

“She has declined significantly over the past year and is no longer able to look after herself, having had 24-hour, full-time care for the past 18 months.”

[Loyalist]

Seeing as how so many members of both houses of Congress are of advanced age, one wonders if similar situations have taken place where caucuses and staffeers have let mentally incompetent colleagues continue to sit and vote on issues they can no longer understand.

[ScottinVA]

Initially, I was thinking it was OUR Senate, and they were referring to Frank Lautenberg.

[Night Hides Not]

Strom Thurmond and Sheets Byrd come to mind.

Since no one read Obamacare before it was voted on, how could anyone say they understood the legislation?

[Lazamataz]

Happens on both sides of the aisle. Even Nancy Reagan noticed her husband slipping in the 1984 Presidential Campaign, but of course, Ronald was a long way from dementia at that point.

But one that wasn't: Strom Thurmond. Dude was gone by the time they wheeled him back home.

[Uncle Ike]

Boy, those Canadians are really different from us, huh??

Here in the Good Ol’ U. S. of A. Congress, a diagnosis of ‘dementia’ is considered a resume enhancer...

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"Fairbairn is not scheduled to retire from the Senate until November 2014. It is unclear why she is taking sick leave rather than stepping down, as seriously ill senators have done in the past."

Duh! Canadian Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister. The LIEberals don't want another Conservative appointed.

(BTW, P.M. Harper has been doing everything possible to change to a system of elected senators. The Opposition parties have done everything possible to thwart him.)

[Squawk 8888]

Canada Ping!

[OldMissileer]

...one wonders if similar situations have taken place where caucuses and staffeers have let mentally incompetent colleagues continue to sit and vote on issues they can no longer understand.

Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s US Senator Quentin Burdik (D-ND) was almost completely senile and it was revealed his staffers were voting for him. There was almost no outrage from the population of North Dakota and the press buried the story.

[ExCTCitizen]

Sen. Joyce Fairbairn regularly attended Senate sittings and voted along party lines before the Upper Chamber rose for the summer at the end of June.

Voting along Party lines in Canada would be caused by dementia?

We better check out Harry and Nancy to see if they got Dementia!!

Don't you need a BRAIN for that thou??

[morphing libertarian]

how can they tell which have dementia?