The “Chamber of Sober Second Thought” should be dropped

The Senate; a once functioning and necessary facet of our parliamentary democracy, is now a private club where self-absorbed partisan hacks can fill their pockets. Rife with unethical accusations, this expensive and inept branch of our government simply can not be reformed, so it must be abolished.

Originally the Senate emulated the “House of Lords”, the upper chamber of the British Parliamentary system on which our government is based. The intent was to allow a non partisan view on presented legislation from the democratically-elected. In simple terms; if a dangerous or irresponsible bill was put forth from the elected, partisan members of the House (“Partisan” meaning bias to a certain Party), it could be quashed by the appointed Senators, who have the ability to democratically veto a bill.

Unlike the British class system, the Canadian population is more equal and lacks “aristocracy”. The Prime Minister must appoint people to the Senate, rather than rely on royalty to decided who is installed. This leaves the “Red Chambre” vulnerable to patronage, or “Privilege of Peerage”. This means that whoever is the Prime Minister, can stick friends or partisan allies in the Senate as a little bonus for their involvement or relation with the Elected Party. From this stems most of the issues concerning our Senate.

I am sure we can all recall one, “local” senator who was caught behaving badly on the account of his fraud charges, but the irresponsibility does not stop with the “Duff”. Over thirty current and former senators have been respectively confronted with fraud charges, misspending allegations and even sexual misconduct/assault accusations. The absurdity of placing, perhaps unqualified and improper people in such an important position within our government, demonstrates that some form of change must occur.

Another issue concerning our Upper House, is it’s “logical” regional representation. The outdated, and frankly, senseless format our Senate uses to proportionally divide the 105 Senators between our ten provinces and three territories creates more problems than it solves. For example; Ontario and Quebec have 24 seats each, Nova-Scotia and New Brunswick have ten each. The remaining provinces, except for Prince Edward Island have six each. P.E.I. has four Senators, while each territory has only one Senator. The division of seats has more relation to when a province joined Confederation, rather than its population or land mass, meaning the original four provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova-Scotia and New Brunswick have more power than the newer six provinces and three territories. This “equal”, yet unequal division of the Senate not only poses a problem to representing the provinces, but to potential revision strategies. Total reform of the Senate, it’s regional system and appointment process would require unanimous support from each province. This creates disproportionate interests between each region and will make real change a difficult dream to achieve.

Our Senate has barely evolved in 150 years, however this does not mean there have not been efforts towards reform. Former Prime Minister Steven Harper, when first elected was in favour of reform or abolition of the Senate. He then proceeded to appoint 59 senators, from his friends and partisans. Most recently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has “made advances” towards ending the partisan nature of the Senate. While the Liberal party was still the opposition, M. Trudeau dismissed all his Senate Caucus. Then by use of a “non-partisan and merit based process” the Prime Minister was advised on his appointment of new, independent Senators. This resulted in formerly liberal Senators identifying as independent, and forming an “Independent Senate Group” now recognised by the Senate Rules as a body containing the same rights as a political party. Although the intentions were good, this attempt at reform resulted in another division in the Senate, resulting in an Upper House lacking a government majority. A government majority in the House of Commons and in the Senate Chamber is a crucial aspect in the passing of federal bills into law.

Sir John A. MacDonald, accredited the Senate to being “a Chamber of sober second thought”, where partisanship had no clout and legislation could be equally influenced by every province. Canada has unimaginably changed since Sir John A’s involvement, but our Senate has not. Now serving as an obsolete pit of cronyism and national embarrassment, the senate holds only a dysfunctional role in the federal government. Real change requires real leadership from the Prime Minister and all leaders of the provinces. Senate abolition must be a priority to all of Canada. Since reforming the Senate has proven to be a difficult and daunting task for present and past Prime Ministers. Given it’s futile state of scandal and patronage, termination is our best and most democratic option.