FREDERICTON – New Brunswick is going to be the first eastern Canadian province to hold Senate elections in 2016.

Premier David Alward tabled the bill in the legislative assembly today calling the proposal historic.

The Harper government has championed the need to reform the Senate into an elected institution.

Alberta is the only province that has held Senate elections.

New Brunswick currently has ten seats in the upper chamber.

The winners of Senate elections would still need approval from the prime minister before taking a position in the Senate.

Alward says the elections would coincide with the next municipal vote.