Senate Refresher
Since I just heard Peter Van Loan on CBC radio pitching senate reform, I figure it is a good time to mention my senate stance:
I'm....
I'm....
.....Strongly in favour of senate reform.
.....Strongly in favour of term limits.
.....Strongly against appointment by the Prime Minister.
.....Strongly against elected senators.
WHAA?????!
Yep. I'm not on the Triple E or even Partial E bandwagons. After looking at the issue for several years, I cannot logically foresee any possible way that electing senators will not make the body function worse rather than better.
Back in university, we learned about the German system where the equivalent of provinces do the appointments. That sounds pretty solid to me. Unlike the German system where the appointments are very short lived - often to deal with only a specific issue in front of the Bundesrat - I would appoint senators for a six-year term, once renewable. This way the Senate would reflect the political differences amongst the provinces, with a bunch of Liberals, a bunch of Tories and a handful of NDP and/or Parti Quebecois senators. As provincial governments change, some changes would occur in the senate.
Make the body accountable to the provinces, the way it was always supposed to be, and keep the profile of senators the same.
WHAA?????!
Yep. I'm not on the Triple E or even Partial E bandwagons. After looking at the issue for several years, I cannot logically foresee any possible way that electing senators will not make the body function worse rather than better.
Back in university, we learned about the German system where the equivalent of provinces do the appointments. That sounds pretty solid to me. Unlike the German system where the appointments are very short lived - often to deal with only a specific issue in front of the Bundesrat - I would appoint senators for a six-year term, once renewable. This way the Senate would reflect the political differences amongst the provinces, with a bunch of Liberals, a bunch of Tories and a handful of NDP and/or Parti Quebecois senators. As provincial governments change, some changes would occur in the senate.
Make the body accountable to the provinces, the way it was always supposed to be, and keep the profile of senators the same.
To me that makes the most sense.
PS: Oh yeah, and lose about half the numbers.
PS: Oh yeah, and lose about half the numbers.
This is one of the better ideas I've heard for Senate Reform. Although, I wouldn't mind just getting rid of them entirely.
Wouldn't your system though be still rampant with patronage appointments though?
Posted by
Chris |
3:32 PM
Gary Doer doesn't need a voice in the Senate. The people of Manitoba do.
Why not look to somewhere like New Zealand, where the upper house is elected by Proportional Representation, or the United States, where regional interests are represented.
Posted by
Anonymous |
1:10 PM
Bingo! I've likewise always been a fan of the German system. We're not even that far away that system now: you just turn the Senate chambers into a big meeting room for fed/prov ministers meetings and you're off to the races.
I would add one further wrinkle to the system: instead of being appointed by the provinces, have the Senators elected at the time of provincial elections on proportional rep lists supplied by the provinces. E.g. after last MB election, MB would get 6 NDP Senators, 3 or 4 PC, maybe 1 Lib.
This would accomplish four things:
1) Make Parliament even more of a bizzarro freakshow than it is already (fun!)
2) Answer the complaints of ppl like Chris re. appointments
3) Satisfy the prop-rep fetishists like anonymous
4) Create more national-level brokerage amongst provincial parties
This last point is the most important. For example, let's say Doer wants to see a bill passed in the Senate, so he goes to McFayden and says "Look, I don't have the Senate votes to pass this bill I want. Get some of your PC guys to vote for it and I'll trade you for that amendment you want for provincial Bill X".
So more wheeling-dealing, which would be good for the system, I figure. Even provincial opposition parties would have an active stake in federal decisions.
Posted by
Mentok the Mind-taker |
6:46 PM
I have never been a supporter of an elected Senate, because I will never be able to become a senator if the Red Chamber is "elected".
Posted by
X |
8:04 PM