MONTREAL - Two weeks after being rejected by voters, Larry Smith is one of three Conservative candidates who has found a new job as a Senator.
It's an odd position for Smith, who was first appointed to the Senate in 2010, only to resign three months later to run as the Conservative candidate for the West Island riding of Lac St. Louis.
Smith denied that he knew ahead of time that returning to the Senate was an option if he didn't win election to the House of Commons.
"I was told bluntly that I would be resigning from the Senate to run and that there would not be a Senate re-appointment, so I'm surprised and people who know me know that I tell the truth," said Smith.
When the former Alouettes president was initially elected to the senate late last year--- he said the move would require him to take a "dramatic, catastrophic paycut."
He'll now join other defeated Tories in the Senate including former MP Josee Verner, and another former Senator turned failed MP candidate, Fabian Manning.
The new appointments had the opposition taking shots at Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision.
"The ink is barely dry on their rejection notices and they're being appointed to the Senate," said NDP leader Jack Layton.
When Harper first became Prime Minister in 2006 he said he would make the Senate an elected body, but as this week's appointments show, the Governor General is still making appointments based on Harper's advice.
"The PM always said that the Liberals were always appointed with all kinds of partisan appointments," said former MP Jean Lapierre. "Well this time he's gone even farther because I've never seen that, two weeks after you get kicked out you get back to parliament?"
In a written statement the prime minister said "Our government will continue to push for a democratic, accountable, and effective Senate."
