{"id":65791,"date":"2017-02-02T17:02:25","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T17:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/trudeau-appointee-for-manitoba-senate-seat-turns-down-the-job.html"},"modified":"2017-02-02T17:02:25","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T17:02:25","slug":"trudeau-appointee-for-manitoba-senate-seat-turns-down-the-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/trudeau-appointee-for-manitoba-senate-seat-turns-down-the-job.html","title":{"rendered":"Trudeau appointee for Manitoba Senate seat turns down the job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s pick to fill a vacant Senate seat from Manitoba has turned down the job, CBC News has learned.<\/p>\n

Harvey Chochinov, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Manitoba, and a leading researcher on palliative care, was recommended to fill the position by the prime minister’s arms-length appointments advisory board last fall.<\/p>\n

“Due to personal, family and professional reasons, Dr. Harvey Max Chochinov has advised the Prime Minister that, regrettably, he is unable to accept the proposed appointment to the vacant Senate position for Manitoba,” a spokesperson for the Privy Council Office, the department that serves the prime minister, said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n

While\u00a0the eight other people\u00a0appointed at the same time<\/a> took their seats late last year, Chochinov was never actually sworn-in.<\/p>\n

The Senate’s website still lists a vacancy from Manitoba.<\/p>\n

“An announcement regarding the current Senate vacancy for Manitoba \u200ewill be made in due course,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

There are currently five vacancies after the recent retirements of Liberal Senators Jim Cowan and Willie Moore, Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth\u00a0and Independent Senator John Wallace.<\/p>\n