Premier Dalton McGuinty says he's talked with other premiers and believes the best option is to simply get rid of the Senate altogether.
"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." A Liberal-supporting, environmentalist blog. We blog according to our opinions, not those of the party or government. Free speech must win and that's why we have this blog. The views of two Montrealers and a Libertarian.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Just Abolish The Senate Already
Premier of Ontario said to just abolish the senate all together. There is really no use of the senate. We have a house that is actually elected and only need one elected house having two elected houses is silly. As it would allow for dead lock just like in the U.S were progress becomes to hard to do. We have one elected house and we should consider on reform it with proportional representation. The senate also favours the Atlantic and is unfair to the western provinces like Alberta and British Columbia. Why waste money on senators that are appointed by the PM almost making Canada not look like a democracy. With having a senate that kills bills that were passed in Parliament it doesn't truly show democracy. Canada needs to reform the house and eliminate the senate. I may be a Liberal, but I want fair representation for Alberta which is one of the least represented by the senate, and if eliminated Alberta will be more properly represented by the House of Commons.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You better check your math again. The west gets more Senate seats then its share of the population. THAT'S WHY THE WEST SUPPORTS THIS.
ReplyDeleteWell you aren't completely mistaken Alberta and BC are both underrepresented in the senate. Alberta has 9% of the house seats which is still lower then what they should get and only get 6% of the senate seats. BC has 12% of the house seats and in the senate it only has 6%. It's true that Ontario is more misrepresented then Alberta and BC, but the senate does still misrepresent the those two western provinces. It is also true that other prairie provinces like Sask and Man are slightly more represented in the senate. So in total the west has 92 seats (From Sask-BC) which is 30% of the house seats (which is still lower than there share of population )and in the senate they have 23% the senate seats. Abolishing the senate would better represent the west.
ReplyDeleteI would be happy with abolishing the existing Senate.
ReplyDeleteHappy, you make a common mistake in equating Parliament with the House of Commons. The latter is only part of Parliament.
There are problems for some provinces if Canada abolishes the Senate. Under the Constitution Act, 1867, all provinces are guaranteed a minimum of House of Commons representatives equivalent to the number of senators that they have. PEI, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick would lose seats in the House of Commons if the Senate were to be abolished. Yes, we could have a unicameral Parliament where a double majority would be required on all bills. For example, a bill could pass Parliament with a majority of voting MPs representing a majority of provinces over those opposed. Unfortunately, many politicians in Ottawa would be happy to see power concentrated in the prime minister's office. Any limits on the PM's powers would be detrimental to the prime minister and his (or her) staff.
As I have mentioned elsewhere, if the Senate were to be abolished, there would be no incentive for provinces to transfer future authority to Ottawa for any reason as this would result in a loss of power for their citizens. Only one province would benefit; that would be Ontario.
Abolishing the Senate might be an ideal solution, but it just isn't practical.
ReplyDeleteIt would require opening up the Constitution and who knows what other discussions we would have about it. Quebec would have to sign the Constitution and people would want a ton of crap put in. It would be too much of a hassle to abolish the Senate.