I've always been in favour of an elected senate but not elected based on population, but the same number per province and not elected at the same time as the house, so that the people would have a say if the government du jour is not up to expectations.
So the American version of a senate? That would just shift the inequality. Right now some parts of the country are very over represented in the Senate while others are incredibly under represented. Giving them all the same number of Senators would lead to the same thing but in a different way.
I like the idea of having the Senate elected in a form of proportional representation. Keep most of the power and first past the post for the house of commons and letting the senate represent things a bit more accurately.
No matter which way it goes I doubt it will get any worse than it is now. I could be wrong though some politicians have a special talent for that sort of thing.
To do that they would need 7 provinces with at least 50% of the population or a constitutional amendment.... So they can rant and rave all they want and promise the moon.....but like a store that has a sale on select articles while quantities hold but have a only a few in stock.....................??
You need to go through the same process to get any meaningful reform of the Senate too. Eventually someone is going to have to go for it whether its reform or abolish.
I don't think the NDP would appoint members to the Senate they have been
opposed to the Senate since the days of the CCF. Instead if they couldn't
just abolish it they would cut the funding over a period of time to render it
ineffective.
Harper said the same sort of thing before he became PM. When it looked like he wouldnt be able to get things through the Senate because he wasnt replacing Senators he started appointing more. The NDP would have no choice but to do the same if they want to get anything through it. They can ignore it if they want but that doesnt make it go away or take away the power it does have.
