Senate should be abolished
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2013 (4339 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The future of the Canadian Senate, which is the unelected upper chamber of Parliament, has to be one of the key issues in Canadian political debate today.
As a result of the improper behaviour of three Harper appointees — Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau — and their subsequent suspension from the Senate, the public is wondering whether it should be modified in some way or whether it should simply be abolished.
Unelected upper chambers existed in five Canadian provinces and all were abolished over time. Manitoba came into Confederation in 1870 and alongside the elected legislature the province had an unelected upper chamber until 1876 when it was eliminated because it was deemed to be too expensive to maintain. New Brunswick’s upper chamber was abolished in 1892; Prince Edward Island’s in 1893 and Nova Scotia’s in 1928. Lastly, Quebec’s upper chamber was abolished in 1968.
Apart for the need to cut government costs, there were other reasons to eliminate the upper chamber, including under-representation of women and ethnic and religious minorities, long and unlimited terms of office and the desire to speed up the process of legislation resulting from unnecessary upper house scrutiny.
B.C. did have an upper chamber or legislative council, but it was dropped when the province joined Canada in 1871. Newfoundland had a second chamber in its early years, but it was not recreated when it joined Canada in 1949. Ontario (Upper Canada) abolished its upper chamber in 1840 long before it became part of Canada in 1867.
So there is now an opportunity for Canadians to ensure that our Parliament is fully democratic and follow the lead of our provinces over the years. Incidentally, for those who think that we need a sober second thought which the Senate could provide, I would remind them that our system provides for legislation passed in first and second reading to go to a legislative committee where members of parliament hear public representations and where they do go over the bills on a clause-by-clause basis before referring them back to the House for the third and final reading.
The decision whether or not to abolish the Senate need not be based on right-wing or left-wing political policies. We should note that the premier of Saskatchewan, Brad Wall of the Saskatchewan Party, recently introduced a motion in the provincial legislature calling for abolition and was passed unanimously. Also, the Conservative premier of Alberta, Alison Redford, has voiced her view that the Senate should be abolished.
Manitoba and Nova Scotia previously have indicated support for abolition. Meanwhile, federal NDP Leader
Tom Mulcair has strongly advocated abolition. On the other hand, Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party do not appear to want to get rid of it but rather reform it in some way.<t$>
LEN EVANS
Brandon