Libbe Hubley retires after reaching age of 75
P.E.I. has another Senate vacancy with the retirement of Senator Libbe Hubley on Thursday.
Hubley, who turns 75 today, has served in the Senate since 2001.
Malpeque MP Wayne Easter praised Hubley for her work, saying she wasn’t a “flamboyant” senator.
“She put her nose to the grindstone and did her work in the Senate representing both the country and Prince Edward Island,” he said.
The Guardian attempted to contact Hubley but was told she was unavailable Thursday.
A Kensington resident, Hubley was elected to the provincial legislature in 1989 and served several terms before retiring in 1996.
While in the Senate, she served as deputy chairwoman of the fisheries and oceans committee. It was during a factfinding trip for that committee in 2014 that she fell while stepping off a boat in Norway and broke her arm.
Hubley also successfully introduced a private member’s bill to create National Fiddling Day, which falls on the third Sunday in May.
Easter said he thinks Hubley will leave a legacy of speaking out in the interests of the average person.
“She had the common touch,” he said.
Hubley didn’t let being a Senator go to her head, Easter said.
“She’s as down to earth as you can get.”
Senator Percy Downe, who worked with Hubley on the Liberal side of the Senate, he said she worked hard on a lot of files.
“We’re all going to miss her in the Senate,” he said.
Downe said that hard work included her involvement with the movement to remove land mines and the promotion of funding for the P.E.I. Literacy Alliance.
The vacancy will be P.E.I.’s second to be filled under a new appointment process the Trudeau government introduced that sees people apply to become senators.
That process uses an advisory board that recommends five people to the prime minister for each senate vacancy.
The governor general appoints the new senator based on the prime minister’s recommendation.
Downe said he hopes under the new process the position will be filled soon.
He also said the Senate is short of some people like farmers, veterans and fishermen.
“All of those qualifications are available on Prince Edward Island, so maybe the next senator will meet one of those criteria,” he said.