Senators ask Governor General to strip Don Meredith of 'Honourable' title

Senators have voted to ask Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to have their former colleague Don Meredith stripped of his "Honourable" title.

Senators have voted to ask Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to have their former colleague Don Meredith stripped of his "Honourable" title.

Meredith resigned from the upper chamber amid a sexual misconduct scandal and Ottawa police charged him in October with sexual assault and criminal harassment.

The upper chamber has approved a motion asking Simon to "take the necessary steps to revoke the honorific style and the title of 'Honourable"' from Meredith.

Official protocol holds that senators are to be styled as "Honourable" for life.

Meredith, an ordained minister, was appointed to the Senate on the advice of former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2010.

Just before the motion was passed, senators broadened it, calling for Meredith as well as any former senator convicted of a criminal offence by way of indictment to be stripped of their "Honourable" titles.

Senators also amended their motion to call on Simon to make this decision herself, instead of asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to request that Simon make the change.