The reviews are in

The Edmonton Journal:

Albertans, it seems we misunderstood this Senate obsession of Reformers and Stephen Harper Conservatives.

When they raged at the appointment of party bagmen, former aides, sympathetic media types and hockey celebrities by the Chretien Liberals, we imagined the problem was the kind of person for whom the Grits were holding out the cushy seat.

But it turns out bagmen, aides, and names in hockey and journalism are just hunky-dory in Tory-land. The Conservatives' real problem in the bad old Liberal days was simply that they weren't the ones doling out the loot.
...
Maybe Harper expects future senators--elected or otherwise--to look on the bright side his concept of the Senate. If second thought is downgraded as a virtue, maybe it's less important to be sober as well.