Inspired by the Antigua and Barbuda Senate

[FiveParadox]

I was reading about the workings of the Senate of Antigua and Barbuda (one of the Commonwealth Realms), and came across something that could be a good idea to use to add some new energy and diversity to our own Senate of Canada. Honourable senators of the Antigua and Barbuda Senate, as are our own, are appointed by the Governor General; however, only ten (out of seventeen) senators are selected by the prime minister. Four are selected by the opposition leader, one is selected by the Barbuda Council, one resident of Barbuda on the advice of the prime minister, and one senator is selected exclusively by the Governor General without governmental advice.

Coupled with restrictions on terms, this feature would, in my view, present tremendous advantages—governments would tend to have the support of the Senate to complete mandates, but with a guarantee of enough opposition members to have thorough and comprehensive research and debate on legislation. The pre-set numbers would also guarantee, though, that provided that a Government governs for a few years, the Senate’s opposition cannot overrule the Government or the House of Commons.

So, for example, the Senate of Canada could be comprised as such:

• 65 senators selected by the prime minister
• 35 senators selected by the leader of the opposition
• 3 senators selected by the Governor General

Quite obviously this is not a thoroughly hashed-out recommendation, but I thought it might provoke some thought.

 

[Machjo]

Scrap the Senate. What's wrong with a unicameral government?

 

[FiveParadox]

Scrap the Senate. What's wrong with a unicameral government?

The problem is that our own House of Commons does not do a good enough job of reviewing its own legislation and proposals. The Senate has made hundreds of valuable amendments to mistakes that the House of Commons missed—and it does this with a pricetag far less than that of the Commons. As a testament to the fact that the Senate’s work is good, remember that the House of Commons almost never rejects the Senate’s recommendations, and that House of Commons members use the Senate’s reports and studies as bases for their own proposals.

Now, this thread was not intended to be another Senate-bash thread, it was intended to be a discussion of whether the system employed by Antigua and Barbuda is something that could have advantages for Canada.