The Prime Minister can choose to accept or ignore the will of Albertans. It's no news that we're in unprecedented times. Our energy sector, the largest and most important subsector in Canada's economy, is facing historic challenges, the implications of which are felt by families across our province and our country. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an economic shutdown while we do what we can to stop the spread of the disease. As we navigate this extraordinary situation, it's more important than ever that Albertans are heard, especially in Ottawa. With a minority federal government propped up in the House of Commons by smaller parties hostile to our province's long-term economic interests, we need strong voices in our nation's capital. Last week, Alberta Senator Grant Mitchell announced his retirement, leaving a rare opening in one of our province's six Senate seats. Mitchell has served since 2005, when he was appointed by then-Prime Minister Paul Martin. Canada's Senate was designed to provide checks and balances to the House of Commons, a mechanism to better represent regional interests and minority voices. In other words, representing the province in Ottawa, not representing Ottawa in the province. It hasn't always worked as designed, and Senate reform has been an issue for almost as long as Canada has been a country. The earliest debate on Senate reform took place in 1874. Alberta has always been a leader in Senate reform. Our province brought in legislation and held Senate elections between 1989 and 2012, electing ten nominees. Of those, five were actually appointed to the Senate by the Prime Minister of the day when a vacancy arose. The former provincial NDP government let the Alberta legislation expire in 2016, deferring decisions on who is best to represent Albertans to Ottawa. Predictably, partisanship has usually dictated whether the will of Alberta voters was recognized when it came time to fill a vacancy for our province, with Liberal Prime Ministers disregarding our elected nominees and Conservative Prime Ministers appointing them. Our last elections for Senate nominees were in 2012, when Albertans nominated Doug Black, Scott Tannas and Mike Shaikh to represent our province's interests in the nation's upper chamber. Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Black and Tannas in 2013 when there were a pair of vacancies. Let's be honest: they're probably the only Senators you've heard of for positive reasons, not notoriety. Since they took their seats, Senator Black has been working tirelessly to speak out about the challenges facing our industries and advocating for our province. He has actively engaged in the debate over legislation damaging to Alberta like Bills C-69 and C-48 among others. Senator Tannas has been working to ensure that regional interests are actually represented, founding a new Senate group to ensure that the majority in the Senate doesn't drown out regional concerns. When a vacancy opened up in 2018, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau disregarded Alberta's last Senate nominee, Mike Shaikh, who received nearly 310,000 votes from Albertans in 2012. Alberta's United Conservative government has restored Senate nominee elections in Alberta, but the timing of this new vacancy means that Ottawa will likely make a decision on behalf of our province before the next vote takes place. If the Prime Minister's Office values the will and voice of Albertans, they should fill the vacancy with Shaikh, who has an extraordinary record of community service and also has a mandate from voters in our province. The track record of Alberta's elected Senators in Ottawa is thus far unblemished. In fact, they've stood up for our province in a way that no unelected appointee in living memory ever did. Prime Minister Trudeau should let the trend continue.   Erika Barootes is Vice President of Western Canada for Enterprise Canada