The Editor:
Re: Face to Face:
Should Canada’s Senate be reformed or eliminated? (Friday April 13, 2012)[i]
Both Face to Face columnists Andy Radia and Jim Nelson think
of the Senate in its current form as “proof- readers”. This may well be the case today since Harper
has appointed almost no one who merits attention, save for a skier, a number of
journalists – and an illiterate sports figure.
Multiplying the number of elections at the federal level will not
increase our democracy, especially since Harper’s moves are not exactly constitutional
in the first place, a point Mr. Radia misses.
Harper’s changes mean we will be bogged down in endless court
challenges. Such is a Strong and Stable
government, indeed.
And if Harper’s vision of the House of Commons as having
“stand alone” supremacy over an elected Senate ever succeeds, then the
significance of the Senate will again diminish in the eyes of Canadians. I
foresee elections for the Senate will be about as popular as the Civic vote –
with incredibly low turnouts. An elected
body at the federal level can only be equal to another elected body at the
federal level, and this has fundamental implications because it overturns the
whole of the Canadian Constitution. In
other words a Triple-E Senate is for those who think of our Constitution as
some sort of comic book, as if any government with a majority can change it at a
whim.
More elections, increased partisanship, and marketplace
competition are not the answers to all our public problems. Look to the United States today with all its
checks and balances – and intractable politics. Who wants that? I would say an
element of considered thought is desirable. And Canada’s Senate achieved just that in 2006
with its ground-breaking document Out of
the Shadows at Last, which made the persuasive case for a national approach
to mental health and addiction. Such an
initiative could not have been made with everyone vying for elections. Here the Senate was doing far more than mere
“proof-reading”.
Scrapping the Senate is again comic-book stuff, but I do foresee meaningful changes to the institution in the future.
Once Harper retires from politics (about 20 years from now) a wise
legislator will introduce the rule (because there will be no effective
opposition) that the Prime Minister is required to appoint a proportion of Senators
who do not belong to the ruling party.
Paul Martin appointed at least three Senators who were not Liberals –
and these were people generally recognized for their competence. Let’s just hope that in 20 years there will
still be persons of public virtue – unsullied by government market mantra - and
meriting an appointment.
