Here's the thing about reporters. They have strong opinions and, well, they tend to express them.

Alison Crawford

That means journalists with long careers come with baggage, or if you prefer, an extensive archive of clippings and soundbites.

Mike Duffy had a 35 year career with CBC Radio, CBC TV and CTV before Prime Minister Stephen Harper named him to the Senate yesterday.

Many technicians and journalists who've worked with the affable broadcaster chuckled at the appointment because people have been informally calling Duffy "Senator," for decades.

In researching Harper's Senate appointees yesterday, a CBC researcher dug up a 24 year-old CBC Radio panel discussion about how the (even then) Liberal-dominated Senate was threatening to block a bill to allow the government to borrow almost $20 billion.

In his discussion with host Peter Gzowski, Duffy opined, "It used to be that an appointment to the Senate, Peter, was a taskless thanks. Unfortunately some of these new people who've been appointed in the last year and a half actually seem to think they should take this seriously and they run the risk of getting the place abolished before I'm old and grey enough to even be considered for an appointment. That's a joke. Seriously, if you look at the people who are holding the gun to Michael Wilson, the Finance Minister's head, they're almost all the new people who haven't yet learned that this is a place where you're supposed to sip scotch quietly and make sure you don't cause too much ruckus."

It remains to be seen whether Duffy adheres to that template.

Alison Crawford