Stop the Filibuster!

In the U.S the system to pass a bill is as confusing as it is difficult. It may sound easy on paper just make a bill, propose it to the Senate or House, then have a committee vote on it, Then wait for it to appear on the floor, and it has to pass, Then it goes to the opposite body and they like to make some changes, Then it goes back to the body were it came from to either make new changes or pass it, After both bodies pass the same piece of legislation then it has to go to the president to either sign or veto. If the president sign's it the bill is then a law unless the supreme court says it unconstitutional. If the president veto's then the bill has to go back to the chamber and either the bill passes in both chambers with 2/3 of the vote or it dies. The problem today is that passing bills are very hard to do. The major problem comes from the Senate. In order for the Senate to pass a bill it needs 60 senators I say destroy that and make it 51 like the House. Then also try to limit filibusters by stooping the ability of one senator ( who can remain anonymous) to hold a bill from arriving to the floor. The senate needs to be changed. The longer the Senate waits to reform itself the harder it will be for it to be able to do it in the future. Unless reform is done now the Senate will not be able to move as fast as it could be and make major reforms and major actions take so much longer then needed.

Take Away Senate Veto

The Canadian Senate should no longer have its veto right. The surprise vote on a bill calling on the government to act on climate change is great evidence why it should no longer have that right. Unelected officials should never ever have the right to completely reject proposals already passed by our MPs in the House of Commons. However, what they should be able to do is delay the passing of it, maybe send it back to a commission in the Commons. This would encourage further thought over bills that Senators don't really like. However, it should remain possible to pass a bill without the support of the Senate.

But alas, the kind of Senate reform I'm thinking of probably won't happen for a long time. The Globe says that taking away the Senate's veto would require reopening the Constitution, which no one wants to do. However it does agree with me that we should take away the undemocratic veto right of the upper house.

The Conservative senators were fully entitled to vote against the Climate Change Accountability Act on Tuesday, but the power of the Senate to reject Commons bills should be limited, in the same way that the British House of Lords is restrained.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Related articles

• Tory senators kill climate bill. (thechronicleherald.ca)
• Killing bill without hearing a first: senator (cbc.ca)

Climate Bill Dies in Senate

I find it astonishing that the people who killed this bill wasn't entirely the fault of Harper. In the senate the climate bill failed, but in the House the Climate bill passed, so the elected chamber that represents the people passes a and the unelected chamber votes down a bill. The vote was close 43-42. Thing is there are 105 members in the Senate and 20 members didn't vote. The Conservatives have 52 seats just under a majority in the Senate, but the Liberals only have 49 seats. The others are divided to the Progressive Conservative 2 members and 2 independents. Meaning that the Conservatives could have gotten maybe one PC or Independent to vote against it, but I guess no need considering not enough Liberals even voted. This bill would have made Canada follow a new target of CO2 by having to reduce 25% of emissions from 1990 levels by 2020. This is a target we need to get to, but because of the Conservatives and some non voting members in the Senate the environment is going to have to wait a while. I think all this can go away if we elect our senate or abolish the senate all together. We need to do something with the senate, because having a senate that can stop legislation even though the house passed it is just going to make us wait longer for legislation.


Read more here

Related articles

• Unelected Tory senators kill climate bill passed by House (theglobeandmail.com)
• NDP outraged as Senate kills climate change bill (theprovince.com)
• Senate kills climate-change bill ahead of UN talks (thestar.com)

New Senator

Harper has appointed a new Senator. David Braley, apparently is one of the few people who "knows Harper's phone number." Of course there is something wrong with this, but, it's the whole Senate which is bad. Prime Ministers just fill it up with hired votes for their bills. Harper is right about democratizing the Senate. I just hope that making our government more democratic happens faster. We need an elected Senate so that if there is a majority in the House of Commons, it's not a dictatorship for the party that has a majority. We must have an elected Senate to ensure that Canada moves into the future, more democratic.

Sports tycoon David Braley, appointed to the Senate Thursday, acknowledges tens of thousands of dollars in donations to the 2004 leadership campaign of Prime Minister Stephen Harper – but says he also donated to two of his competitors.

In an interview, the owner of the Canadian Football League’s B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts confirmed donations of $30,000 each to Mr. Harper and Belinda Stronach, plus an unspecified donation to Tony Clement.

Read more at the Globe and Mail.

Elected “Senate” for England

The reason, says a minister is to make the House of Lords “legitimate.” I am actually all for a Triple-E Senate. It’s time that the stuffing of the seats ends. Each House should be able to watch the other one. Therefore, Canadians would be able to vote for different political parties on the ballots. This would ensure the accountability of the two Houses.

"The time has now come to make it legitimate in the only way that a legislative assembly can be legitimate in the modern world, which is to be elected," Lord Adonis told BBC television.

"We can do it in this country as most democracies do it: we'd have two chambers, both of which are elected but with the government accountable to the first chamber," he added.

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=2682156