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Ex-coach, Tory insiders among new senators
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Date: Thu. Aug. 27 2009 5:16 PM ET
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has railed against the Senate and championed a plan to make it an elected body, has appointed some of his closest Conservative insiders to the Red Chamber - as well as a Stanley Cup-winning coach who has fought a lifelong struggle with illiteracy.
Jacques Demers, who coached the Quebec Nordiques and Montreal Canadiens, among other NHL teams, is now a Conservative senator representing Quebec. His appointment was announced earlier on Thursday, on the website of television network RDS. Demers has been working for that company as a hockey analyst.
Demers made news several years ago by speaking publicly about his difficulties in overcoming illiteracy.
Also filling out the nine vacancies in the Upper House:
- Doug Finley, Harper's election campaign chair, appointed as an Ontario senator.
- Don Plett, president of the Conservative Party of Canada and National Councillor, representing Manitoba
- Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, who recently stepped down from her post as Harper's director of strategic communications, has been rewarded for her more than seven years of service. (New Brunswick).
- Dennis Patterson, former Northwest Territories premier (Nunavut).
- Claude Carignan, a lawyer and mayor of Saint-Eustache (Quebec).
- Linda Frum Sokolowski, a Canadian journalist and bestselling author (Ontario).
- Kelvin Ogilvie, scientist and past president of Acadia University (Nova Scotia).
- Judith Seidman, health expert and long-time community service worker (Quebec).
During his time as opposition leader, Harper said he would never make patronage appointments to the Senate.
When asked about how he could reconcile the appointments with his earlier statements, Harper replied: "At the time when there will be elected senators, I intend to elect senators."
"But at the moment, it's only Alberta that organizes such elections," he told reporters in French at a Thursday afternoon news conference in Quebec City. "Now we have nine vacant seats in the Senate, and I intend to have senators that will support the elected government."
Harper has tried to reform the Senate by making it an elected body. After the opposition Liberals blocked the move, the prime minister appointed 18 senators over the Christmas break last year.
Many of those appointees were considered nonpartisan, helping to avoid tough opposition criticism. Journalists Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin, and Olympic skier Nancy Greene Raine were among those awarded seats.
Now it seems Harper is moving towards balancing out the Liberal-dominated Senate by appointing a number of Conservative-minded Canadians to the role.
"He called the Senate 'a dumping ground' for the favoured cronies of the prime minister," said Roger Smith, a parliamentary correspondent with CTV in Ottawa. "Well, he's appointing some of his favoured cronies apparently."
The Tories are expected to control 45 out of the 105 seats in the Senate with the new round of appointments, Smith said.
On Thursday morning, the federal Liberals reacted to the anticipated announcement by issuing a statement about "Senate Harpocrisy." It lists quotes by the prime minister in which he refused to make Senate appointments.
"There will obviously be outrage from the opposition today, but you're going to have to take that with a grain of salt," Smith said. "The Liberals did this for years."
In a statement, the NDP said the new senators will cost Canadian tax payers $3 million per year.
"I think it just shows really that Mr. Harper's not behaving any differently than we used to see with the Liberals," NDP Leader Jack Layton told CTV News Channel.
"That means when we do finally retire the Harper government, (the Senate) will be packed with Conservatives to block the legislation of any future government coming in. It just shows how crazy this system really is," Layton said.
"Having an unelected body that's able to block or pass laws is something that modern democracies got rid of years ago."
Senators receive about $134,000 per year for their work, plus expenses. They're eligible to hold the position until age 75, at which time they must retire.
Comments are now closed for this story
ghyber
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Larry NL
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Personally, I would prefer an elected senate, one that is more accountable to the people and not the party.
'Sehli
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John
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ron in victoria
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A Conservative Supporter Actually From Ontario
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db
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George Van Dyk
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Jay-TO
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905 Guy
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Genx Edmonton
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James
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The optics are bad, but the plan is great for Canadians.
LDL in ONT
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Otherwise Harper is just following the old saying...If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Goldens
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John Wilson
Bridgetown NS
Sober, Newmarket
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Mel from Calgary
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So what Chretien and Paul Martin did was appoint senators who are close to the retirement age to limit thier term. Stephen Harper is not doing this nor is he appointing people of stature to improve the Senate.
It is Stephen Harper's job to do the best he can with what he has; he is doing the opposite.
Marc
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Denis
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Inkmont
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Tellin It Like It Is
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Peter Rapsey
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Scott/Hfx
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DAve in Cobourg
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I just hope he remebers his actions when once again the Liberals get back into power and pull the same stunt.
I frankly don't see what purpose the Senate really serves except as a high priced day care for political friends whose patronage is payed for by us the taxpayers. Reform would be a good thing for senate, and it can't come too soon.
WSS
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Suck it up gritsters !
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Canada is MUCH better off with a Conservative government.
GHW
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We need an elected Senate!
Michael Cambridge On
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This senate thingy certainly isn't going to help the whole issues any better... In fact, he is attempting to divide Canada on this issues.
Also, this is a other flip flop from Harper as usual.
Must be slow news today.
DCR-Toronto
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If the Liberals don't like it, then vote in favour for Senate reform. As previously stated...the only way to get an elected Senate is to have a Conservative majority in the Senate. What are the Liberals so afraid of? Wait, let me guess. Of not ever winning in the Senate? Or is it that they actually have to give the power to the people of this country instead of to their elitist friends?
I love watching the Liberals spin out of control. They haven't a clue of how to actually be a "real" political party anymore. They still feel that they are entitled to their entitlements.
Constance
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Duck
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Michaele
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Prime Minister Harper leads with backbone!
CC
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This still doesn't give the Conservatives a majority in the Senate, but it is getting very close. It is so awesome to see the lefies watch this and can do NOTHING about it. This PM knows what he is doing. Step by step, the Senate will get reform. With or without the Libs help.
MRC in Ontario
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What are people getting all excited about?
Porky
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Ron --BIG TIME CONSERVITIVE
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For years the Liberals stacked the senate Now I can't wait to hear them whine about this .
O'ya by the way that weasel LAYTON will be blowing his horn over this .
david sawkiw [saskatchewan farmer]
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I was going to put my name forward as a candidate as soon as Brad Wall made the ballots up.
But that's okay, the rumour mill has it that I am already on the short list for an appointment to the senate!!
Thanks Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
shelley/ottawa
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collin
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peimac
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“I can't wait to hear what all those Liberal-lovers have to say about this!” I’m a small l liberal but not a Liberal-lover, if ya know what I mean. What I have to say is, a lie is a lie, no matter who tells it. I don’t think he’s made any credible attempts to reform the senate in his two terms. This is small potatoes for Harper though, the changes he’s making to foreign policy are the real lie.
david in Ottawa
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Sad statement of the state of our representational system and the uninformed who elect them. Makes you wonder if all our elected puppets disappeared tomorrow if anyone would notice the change... Once you get elected apparently you have a green light to do whatever you like and call it good.
R. Carson
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The most flagrant abuse of Senate-stuffing was by the infamous Mulroney in 1990. He used a little-known law to add to the Senate seats, then filled them with Conservatives. Why? So we could all enjoy a 7% GST. That was a Conservative tactic, not a Liberal one.
Eric
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The problem here is that Harper is going against his own ideology in senate reform. Instead of fighting the right fight, he's fighting the easy fight. Why not leave those seats open, put a bill before the house saying that each seat that comes up vacant, should, hence forth, be an elected seat...With the understanding that if the house does not pass that bill, then he will start making appointments. Then he comes out smelling like a rose whichever event happens. Give the Liberals and NDP a chance to have fairness or the status quo, and Harper has made his attempt at Senate reform....Just like he did with the Gay Marriage issue...He had pressure from his party to stop it, so he put it to a vote...it fell, he tried, now the ultra right wing can't hold anything against him.
Sherry Katrina
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meerkat
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stuffing the senate (whether you are liberal or conservative) are the signs of a dying pm....
RIP harper
only 36% of Canada will miss you.
reporting from ottawa
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Spence in Ontario
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I find it is a hypocritical move on Harper's part when he previously vowed not to appoint senators and make the senate elected, but it's not unexpected. I don't agree with the NDP idea to scrap the senate all together because I prefer having another body to review give second thought to legislation.
The official reason the Liberal party gives that it would be unconstitutional to change the senate and to do so would require a constitutional amendment. I'm not actually sure if that's correct or not because there has not been a very in depth explanation as to the details of the senate's makeup in our constitution. If that were the case though the federal government also would need consent from 7 out of 10 of the provinces representing at least 2/3 of Canada's population in order to pass the amendment.
Leafy
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Mark _ Fort Erie ON
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The Liberals obviously aren't interested in democracy in the Senate.
dave
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I could not have worded it any better...
"The most flagrant abuse of Senate-stuffing was by the infamous Mulroney in 1990. He used a little-known law to add to the Senate seats, then filled them with Conservatives. Why? So we could all enjoy a 7% GST. That was a Conservative tactic, not a Liberal one."
I wonder what we get to enjoy once the Tories get a senate majority this time...?
Spence in Ontario
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I think it would be a good idea to hold a referendum on this to see what public opinion is and maybe include a few ways to reform the senate on it. A referendum would certainly give more justification to the idea and might help convince some MPs to go along with it.
TVic
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My tax dollars at work...
JB in Calgary
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You want to know what's scary? When Harper appoints the last nine spots to Conservatives even if you include the 18 at X-mas making for a total of 27, the Liberals still have the majority, with 53. And it's been like that for years.
Pat_from_Mississauga
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Greg - Signs and Wonders
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simon
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And Harper knows he will return as Leader of the Opposition.
As leader of the opposition, attacking him for appointing senators contrary to his own convictions will have little or no effect!
Jay-TO
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Ray Jacques, Glen Robertson, ON
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Good to see that many Conservative suupporters are posting nonsense postsaway - as usual
It wouldn't matter if every Liberal wanted to support Harper's plan to reform the Senate, any changes would have to be ratified by our Constitutioal rules - If I recall, that would require (6) Provinces representing 50% of the population.
Quebec and Ontario have said no to any changes - it will never happen
Certainly seems like panic is setting-in with our Conservative friends over the possibility of an election and - you would be right to worry.
Jack
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Maritimer
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Harpers actions have proven once again that the Senate requires fixing.
boo huew
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Brett in Alberta
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Martin added 17 Liberals
Somebody wants to talk about stacking the Senate?
There are still Senators from Trudeau's time. I think it's time for Senate reform. I hope Harper's plan works to do so.
CC
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Think again. Here is the Senate website. Go look at the dates (appointment and retirement dates) of those appointed by Chretien and Martin. There may be a few ( as there is for Harper) but not many that are "close to retirement" as you say. There are still people in the Senate, that will be there for years, that Trudeau appointed!
Simply more spin and lies from Liberals.
Kevin in Alberta
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Mike
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Triple E senate?
More like Hypocritical and typical of the forked-tongued minority government. This on top of the latest endeavour to try and remove the word "humanitarian" from each reference to "international humanitarian law," replacing the term "gender equality" with "equality of men and women", switching focus from justice for victims of sexual violence to prevention of sexual violence, and replacing the phrase "child soldiers" with "children in armed conflict." This is a minority government of yahoos and NOT MY GOVERNMENT.
Greg in the Hammer
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Edb
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An elected senate is viewed by Canada's silverspoon socialist as some sort of evil American idea, yet appointing them now all of a sudden is stacking the deck.
Well, which is it Liberals, appoint or elect ?
Or as usual, whichever option fills Liberal party coffers.
Michael, Cambridge On
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This is a fine example of how gulliable Canadian seems to be... Having elected senate will not do any good for Canada.
If Canadian voted majority facist government and they will most likely also voted in majority facist senators. How actually that work? It is wasting our tax money.... Whole point of senate is to be second thought or safe-guarding Canadian from stupid laws passed by bunch of stupid MPs.
Nothing will accomplish but increased partisn that Canadian are growing tired of.
NON-PARTY STATUS SENATE BODY is answer.
Also... Liberal did appointed Cons. NDP. and old people as well. Harper appointed most red-neck loyalist he could find.
That's fine line he crossed. Liberal pretty much did nothing wrong and they didn't rushed to stack up the senate when they knew they will be defeated by Harper.
Paul from Winnipeg
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Dave in Victoria
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Winnie from Halifax N.S.
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This is a Liberal dominated country and the scandals they are trying to put on you even on talk shows here in N.S. are discusting. If that's all they can do is try to smear a person's reputation, SHAME! If people only read the paper and don't watch what you actually say they will be brain washed as the news is always negative,
As I said before Keep UP THE GOOD WORK. I have faith in you and your party. Canada is now getting Good govenment and getting things done.
You are a very strong man to keep your cool under all this sad and mistaken scrutiny.
Henry Wysmulek
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Why should they be the only ones allowed to screw up Canada!
Tony C in Toronto
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An ELECTED Senate would compete for votes with an ELECTED House of Commons. BOTH houses would be responsible to electors and thus would end up competing with one another for public votes. If Canadians (smart as we are) send one party to the HoC and another to the Senate for additional opposition, what would Harper do?
Harper wants total control of both houses. This would create the opposite effect. All would be politicized much more than it is now. Surely he knows that.
Like everything else, this is all for show. Harper doesn't really want an elected upper house.
Jack Rumney
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MIKE
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Mike S
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STEVE H.
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Elaine
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John from Calgary
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James
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Mr Harper continues to display a lack of either as our leader. He has a set of princibles that are difficult to live by - as all such things are, but he continually gives in to temptation and takes the easy road.
If he really beleived in a Triple E Senate, he would allow elections for these seats, treating the results as "recommendations" from the people in that region. He could create reform without having to stoop to the tools of his opponents.
Mr Harper may be our prime minister, but I for one wish that he would rise above that to become our leader.
T-Roy
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happy
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Twiddle dee and twiddle dumb!
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LOL - You guys are a piece of work. It wouldn't matter what Harper does you ALWAYS come out with your usual spite for the Conservatives. You're as transparent as glass and we all know why.
Doug BC
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DCR-Toronto
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Dan from Toronto
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Furthermore, the senate does not representative of Canadian population so why not just get rid of the senate.
conductor274
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allan
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Abolish the UNELECTED senate.
The world alone, unelected, is an insult to democracy!
Jack
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Robert J in Calgary
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The Senate must be totally insensitive to the roller-coaster politics and manic greed of the Prime Minister and the Prime Ministers Office. It also needs to be insensitive to lobbyists or they'll just be bought off issue by issue and not do their proper job. We don't need so many Senators, either.
Bring in limited terms of 12 years, get them elected, equally sourced from around Canada, and effective by assuring separation from political parties and assure Senators have the resources to do a thorough and professional job.
zwinky
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The Conservatives record on stacking the senate to suit their politcal agenda is just as appalling as the Liberals.
The answer is an elected Senate using regional proportional representation based on the actual percentage of votes received by all recognized parties that run candidates in each federal election.
I won't try to detail such a complex plan or address adjunct details like minimum percentage threshold of votes for party eligibility to take a senate seat etc - all of these would have to be addressed.
- each province would have an equal "pool" of senate seats from which the parties would "win" seats
- seats from this pool would be reassigned after every federal election based on percentages of popular vote actually received by each party
- parties would choose who they send to occupy each seat they "win" OR
- to be even more egalitarian, the parties could be required to appoint their people based on each region's candidates' percentage of popular vote from within their riding. (ie the most popular of their own candidates would occupy the seats, not just the leaders preference)
The Senate should be altered to be the house that properly represents the actual electoral mix that is truly representitive of Canadians' many and varied political points of view.
This would force some Senate cooperation betweeen all of our horribly arrogant "major" parties and allow a proper repesentation of citizen's whose politcal allegiance lies with the smaller parties.
Hard to accomplish but infinitely fairer to you and I.
Forte@60
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Out West Guy
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He's no better and likely worse since he has always preached against appointments to the Senate when he was in Opposition.
Amazing how power corrupts once you get the taste of it.
Harper acting like a Liberal again.
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It's hilarious how Harper's supporters praise him for doing what Liberals do.
The C-label Party guy is doing it.
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It's only bad when a non-C-label Party does it.
Niagara George
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The dictionary tells me 'pragmatist' means forgetting your beliefs and doing what you can to get ahead.
That pretty well sums up most of the Con announcements.
The Americans may have an elected Senate, but their system is completely different. Their elected representatives actually vote independently. In Canada 99.9% vote the way their leader tells them. To have an elected Senate would only be a costly way to perpetuate that nonsense.
When we have a majority government, we are very close to an elected dictatorship. If the Senate is elected and the same party is in power in both houses, the full dictatorship will be here.
John
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Mary Clarke
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Jim in Ottawa
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Increased balance in the Senate will help make it a more relevant legislative body and will help make Mr. Harper's ideas for Senate reform more palpable.
Annette
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Niagara George
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Many of you are gloating at Harper's tit-for-tat move. The truth is the Liberals did not stack the Senate when they had the opportunity.
Both Chretien and Martin did not fill the vacancies when they had the opportunity. When Liberal prime ministers have made appointments in the past they always appointed people from a variety of political backgrounds.
Harper's blinders would never allow him to see merit in any idea or person that was not as blue as him.
Faye
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For the Liberal nay sayers. What do you think the Liberals would do? Put all Liberals in making the Senate even more of a joke.
Eyes Wide Open
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Harper would change the Senate in a heart beat if he could. Because he can't without the help of the Liberals, doesn't mean he shouldn't fill the seats. It is scary how many people think that the Senate should be just left open for the Liberals to completely fill it. I tend to be more Conservative, however, I'd NEVER want the Senate to be ALL Conservative. Neither should Liberal supporters want an all Liberal Senate. We need this balance to be sure that there is some actual democracy left in Canada. Having all one party in the Senate would amount to an appointed dictatorship.
Harpers hands are tied because he needs the Liberals on side to start change. He has absolutely no choice but to appoint. The Liberals won't work with him to bring change forward.
ANYONE wo supports a one party Senate should open their eyes and see where that road leads.
Straight to communism!!!
Pip
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Yes, EEE senate is the ideal way, but our constitution only allows for APPOINTED senators. To change the law to allow for triple E requires a reform bill to pass in parliament AND the senate (would it pass in the liberal-dominated senate? They would, after all, be voting to end their patronage salaries!). And then, because it requires a change to the constitution, the provinces have to pass their own laws approving it, and the legal requirements for that mean that Ontario or Quebec plus one or two other provinces could probably prevent that change. Would PEI vote to lose senators? It has more,proportionally, for its population than Alberta.
Of course, Mr. Harper could have left those senate seats empty, depriving provinces of senatorial representation, and then he would get just as much criticism for inaction.
Keep going, posters, let's see how many of you actually think this matter through!
Ken - Calgary
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Danny Dinosaur
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I actually thought you might be driven by moral conviction as opposed to just being selfish.
Can we elect anyone that might have the best interest of the country in mind? Are people like that really that hard to find?
Alex (Toronto)
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Debbie Funk
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I don't understand how anyone could be agreeable to allowing these Senators that opportunity up until age 75!
Harper tried to reform the Senate,but was met with too much opposition.
So,don't cry now if he's forced to play the game the same as the others have been.
Steve the Pundit
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What the Conservatives have (finally) latched onto is the fact that politics is a blood sport, and you use all the tools at your disposal to further your agenda. This is the primary reason that the Liberals were successful for so many years: while Conservatives like Stanfield and Reformers like Manning played politics as a gentleman's pursuit, the Liberals went after them with everything nasty trick they had, including stacking the Senate.
Complicating all of this is the minority government; it is very difficult to move forward on "principled" initiatives when you have to cut deals with the opposition to stay in power. And, yes, Liberals did it too in 1972 when the NDP propped up their minority; the resultant orgy of spending to please their NDP masters took over a generation to clean up.
All this finger pointing and questioning of true motives goes away with one simple thing: give the Conservatives the majority they clearly deserve, and let's get on with fixing what's wrong with parliament. Maybe when that's done, we'll start attracting the types of candidates that "Danny Dinosaur" is searching for...
GP
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What I do find most interesting is the vote count under some of the comments. Unusually high counts of clearly a very polarizing outcome. Is see from that both Parties are still always in election mode, always at war, and the, we only care about being in power approach, is alive and well, with clearly the Tories being more focused on this type of US politics…let the votes speak for themselves.
Yu know, if we’re going to have US politics here in Canada we should bring in US term limits, with only two terms per any leader then we get a new one…ya like that will ever happen with this power hungry lot in charge (all parties, all leaders included).
Art in Alberta
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M M B Ont
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Thanks Mr Harper and the Conservatives for showing some backbone for Canada despite all the negativism being thrown at you for every little thing you.
habitant
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Now that he will be given an official position in Our governement, how can we expect any less from him? As a Conservative operative, he has been a constant source of divisiveness for Canada, he has insulted many Canadians (in the political field and beyond), he has disrupted Parliamentary proceeedings and other various Government instituion as if he were a achild (and wrote a book on perfecting such class)…
Given his true history (Finley's) and a penchant for separatism, how can Harper tell Canadians this pick is best for Canada?
Red X
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With the appointment of another 9 can we expect the Conservatives to do poorly on the next report? Thus falling into another Election because of that party's inability to get shovels in the ground for their so called "already implemented" stimulus.
Dave in Cobourg
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Now there is man who knows a lot about politics eh?
Good choice stevie!!! Does he come a set of season tickets to the Canadians?
Bob from Ontario
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Danny Dinosaur
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This might be a crazy idea for Mr. Harper and the Liberals, but what if governments didn't appoint Liberals or Conservatives to the senate.
What if they appointed qualified people? People who non-partisan, visionary and most importantly, willing to put the countries best interest as a priority. It seems to me that the senate might actually work effectively if that were to happen.
I also think we do have some Senators who do fit these qualifications and maybe we should encourage them to continue instead of frustrating everything by trying to destroy it.
It also appears that our present government has no intention of changing past practices.
Alysha Ont
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Look no further Danny, I think we have found the person that we are looking for that has the best interest of the country and that person is YOU ! After all, you speak so eloquently and with such passion... NOT ! I think you would make a good candidate st that pork barrel trough that you mentioned.
Dispicable !
Terri
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Jason Daniel Baker, Toronto
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I love the Habs and congratulate their former coach!
Seriously????
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Bill from London
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Ian
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I would support Senate reform via elected officials which go hand in hand with an election. Perhaps for Senators, the term is a fixed eight or ten year term representing two government elected period, thus allowing for some continuity.
What does this mean in the short term. Time to clean out the Senate by not allowing more Senators and when election time comes, let the battle begin as it will be a Senate elected by the people for teh people and perhaps it will actually have some decision making capabilities based on constituents versus who you are chummy with.
Dave McInroy
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SK Small Businessman
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Johnnie Oil
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daniel
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Making the necessary changes for an elected Senate is easy - making politicans do what we want them to do is even easier - we're just lazy and uninterested.
suzanne
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pistol
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Don't you see the hypocrisy of it all? What's wrong with people?
M. Cameron
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Penelope ONT
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This is an outrage!
Also to change the Senate - in our Constitution we have to have 7 out of 10 Provinces or over 60% of the population agree - best of luck!
Both Ontario & Quebec make up around 66% and like second sober thought - we don't jump before looking, & we don't hire illiterate people to high positions in our country's "think tank". Why does Harper???
retep
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When I read the comments I truly have a strange feeling deep down inside of me...I wonder why that should do that?
You all have a great day
Jason Bourne from the Jaw
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Indeed there are many political pundits on these blogs who blame every story on one political party or the other. That's what they get paid to do. Like my Dad used to say "everyone has an opinion (and a rear end) we just hope it's an informed opinion that they are trying to enlighten us with".
Al in Cranbrook
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Good on Harper for not shrugging it off as a lost cause, but rather beating them at their own game! More power to him! Wish he had a majority so we could spared a lot of this Liberal nonsense.
Raymond
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It is YOUR party that made a practiced artform out of patronage appointments, and continually ignored/lampooned Harper's calls for an elected Sentate.
Now you know how the rest of us felt watching Chretien stack the deck with his personal picks.
Get over it.
Mike from the peg
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Lets see what happens with the newbies!
Visiting Fellow
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Dave W, Lacombe, AB
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Oh, by the way, Mr. Harper, I meet all the criteria to be in the Senate and am conservative. Please consider me next time! Bring on the Triple E Senate!
rachel
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Fed-Up Canadian!!!!
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That being said;
Has Mr Harper lost his mind! What makes this man qualified? Was he taken from a pool of candidates? Was it a fair competition for the position? I am disappointed in this government over and over day after day! This is NOT a government it is a dictatorship! Shame on Mr Harper for doing exactly what HE promised to eliminate last election!He is no better than the Liberals!Shame on you......you have officially lost my vote Mr Harper!
Allan Eizinas
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So in 8 years when we have a Liberal government, these current appointees will resign en mass from their $135,000 a year do nothing jobs with plush benefits to allow the Liberals to fill those vacancies?
Yeah, OK.
my take on this
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As far as the tory dreamers predicting Stephen Harper will get a majority government, please, he's hanging on by his fingernails as a Prime Minister and even more so as the leader of the Conservative Party.
There will be more tory flubs coming soon and the political tide will change for the better.
ReformaCon = LIAR
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bunny
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Dean
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William
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Steeplejack
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Secondly, the Senate must not become an elected body, because by doing so it simply becomes another House of Commons. The Senate's comparative lack of rancour allows the senators to do what they are supposed to do -- give deliberation and "sober, second thought" to whatever antics those in the Lower chamber have gotten themselves into.
They do a lot of very valuable committee work, and introduce legislation into Parliament as well.
"Triple E" doesn't work for me. No need for elections -- again, that's what we have Commons for. Effective? The Senate can be very effective depending on what your measurement of effective is. Try and find a better group to engage in studies that are of interest to Canadians. They've also caught legislation that the Commons tried to sneak through. Anybody remember Bill C-10 in 2008, a tax and funding bill for the movie industry? It's passage could have meant that filmakers would not get tax breaks or funding for films that senior bureaucrats thought offensive. It was the Senate -- not Commons -- that picked that up. Had there been no Senate, a good sized piece of freedom of speech could have been compromised if it had passed.
Finally, equal. The Senate is equal to the Commons except for one thing: the ability to impose taxes or appropriate public funds.
So abolition is a bad idea, and election is unnecessary. There SHOULD be greater interest in the activities of the Senate among Canadians, though.
Scott Stelmaschuk
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Trudeau may have planted the Senate with Liberals, but it was Mulroney who mastered manipulating it. Does anyone else remember the 'emergency' Senators he appointed to get the GST passed through the upper house?
Liberals and Conservatives have used the Senate for their own ends for years, that's nothing new. What is new is to see a Prime Minister ABANDON his beliefs in favour of taking more power for his party.
This is the TRUE FACE of the Harper Conservatives; abandon belief for power. Canada cannot afford to have a government that covets power above the needs of the people, and abandons their platform and ideas when they need to secure their power.
Jay-TO
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CoqKid
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It is high time that there is some balance in the liberal dominated senate.
Shannon - Montreal
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Except for the Liberals - the same ones who wanted to maintain the old system and blocked steps towards a new system.
So, old boys club - it oyu stand up for the old system that enables you to line the Senate with Liberal cronies, don't object when a Conservative PM fills those vacant seats with Conservatives - or were you hoping he'd just wait for some long off day when you could have your way again.
Liberals - get over it!
LDL in ONT
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John
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Denise
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Ed
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I could not keep the smile off my face - 'visiting fellow' - are you writing from Ignatieff's office. With a pseudonym liek that - hey, maybe you are Iggy himself. Did it ever occur to that these postings are from ordinary Canadians like myself who find the real hypocrisy is to criticize a person who uses a system you insisted has to stay.
Iggyfites - chill.
Michael, Cambridge ON
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Ha ha ha ha... Seriously.... why is this guy even on Senate floor? sounds like this is all PR to me... Harper know that he is about to get booted from PMO so he decided to pull a publicity stunts.
Whatever - it will be Canada's downfall.
Paul
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At best, this fellow is now only semi-literate. My question is this: What can Steven Harper be thinking when he appoints a man to the senate who cannot understand the language of the laws he is supposed to be ratifying? What does such a decision say about our Prime Minister and his expectations of this man? What does such an appointment say about a Prime Minister who is supposedly in favour of senate reform?
Perhaps we can be thankful that our system, as it is, prevents the Prime Minister from appointing children to the senate. Then again, if Mr. Harper did appoint a teenager, at least we would be paying thousands for the services of someone who can read.
See you at the polls.
Bob,Calgary,Alberta
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Citizen
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I support this move to appoint, eventually the Conservatives will get the majority in the Senate and then maybe Senate reform will be a real possibility.
In the mean time, better to have a Senate that will support the elected government of Canada.
Doug in BC
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The optics of this are not what they should be.But,given that he has a minority in the house of commons,and in the Senate,his choices were to either leave those seats vacant,so Liberals could fill them with their spin doctors if or when they get elected,of fill them with Conservatives.
Even as a former Liberal,I support a reformed and democratic Senate.What we have now is an insult to the notion of a democratic society.In a perfect world,I would prefer to have BOTH the Liberals and the Conservatives work towards a democratic Senate."Triple E" would be preferable,but I'm sick and tired of ANY PM deciding who should represent BC.That decision should be made in BC.
This small step is the second best approach to more democracy and less domination of the west by Ontario,primarily,and by the east in general.
Not acknowledging that Senate reform is essential,is one of the major reasons I left the Liberal party.Though,not the only one.They also have no clear policy on the north,no plans for the military,no plans for tax and debt relief,are wishy washy on Afghanistan,and very nebulous on every major issue that confronts us now.Just a collection of lobbyists and special interest groups lobbying for more "free" programs.
If you EVER want my vote back Mr.Ignatieff,you are going to have to present a real policy for Senate reform.And PROVE that you mean it.
Steve, Sarnia ON
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wowsers
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Remember the promises of change...going through the motions of appointments just to even up the numbers is just wrong...create an elected body...then if you win your share you have more in there.
It just seems backwards to say you wanted an elected senate then go and appoint a lot of your own people. In order for people to believe in your change ideas you have to be the change. I'm disappointed that Mr. Harper is not being the change he promised. It looks like we are even further away now from an elected senate...wonder which party will promise us this next.
tim
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either elect the senate or scrap it!
this isn't a partisan issue as both parties have used and abused this body politic
rob
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Canadians cannot continue to live under the constant threat of elections, senate stacking and gerrymandering of the electoral system. I have decided to protest the last five years of political ineptness by refusing to vote in any further election until the British Parliamentary style of government is abolished and replaced with a fairer system that truly represents the views of all Canadians and not just the 302 sitting MP's and their friends and insiders. The Chief Electoral Officer is sending a form to me which I will gladly sign, refusing tp participate in all and any future elections. I urge others to join me and tell Ottawa that enough is enough. Let's not just accept the status quo for the sake of hoping that things will get better. This has been going on since confederation. Now is the time to take a stand and let them know that we can do better.
Bryan
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Here's to hoping that Canadians also smarten up and vote out Harper.
Robert J in Calgary
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