It should be pointed out, that in his very first election he swore upside, down and sideways his aim to have a triple E Senate. Every single prospective Senator he appointed swore that he/she would support that reform.
... Well... foisted. He's just regurgitating a promise he made a decade ago.
... One reason that he didn't pursue reform was that all his consulting legal guys and the Supine Court of Canada said he needed a Constitutional Change. That good people is a pile of hooey. Why you say?
... Because it is left to the Prime MInister to recommend the names of those to the Crown for Senatorial appointment. There is nothing in the Constitutional procedure that dictates exactly how the Prime Minister selects those candidates.
... There is absolutely nothing preventing the Prime Minister requesting that the provincial government of that Senate seat vacancy furnish a name or names selected by sufferage of a part attached to the ballot of the next provincial election, by simply including the names nominated by each official political party in that province.
... The reason that most Prime Ministers would be reluctant to appoint a provincial nominee that wasn't a member of their own political ideology or party association. The advantage of appointing party hacks to the Senate is that they tend to tow the line. It is the real reason that Harper was reluctant to employ that simple method. He is after all a reputed control freak of the first order.
... Its just that selecting any provincial candidate(s) without political prejudice, or campaign contributors require a Prime Minister of exceptional ethical discipline. He/she would be often furnishing candidates he/she didn't like. Much like many former Prime Minister going back decades, Harper did not have the strength of character to do that simple and constitutionally correct method of picking new Senators.
... It should be pointed out that if in the event of a minority government and Harper would willingly flip back to the old mode if any of his legislation was threatened in the upper house. I rather suspect that if there was any NDP or Liberal minority, those Prime Ministers would gleefully stuff their party hacks into the Senate to overcome any Conservative Senatorial majority.
... And don't kid yourself, when push comes to shove it doesn't matter whether the Prime Minister is Harper, Mulcair, or Trudeau, all will be confronted by the ultimate paradox. Before the reform Bill or Act can be signed, or receive provincial constitutional ratification, that legislation must be approved by the Senate by vote. Its not the Supreme Court or the provinces that will be the major block, its the Senate itself.
... Certainly they will not vote in favour of their extinction. It is a cushy job chocked full of perks with little work, with even smaller effort. They will not give it up easily nor willingly as a group. Some will vote for reform, but that would be still a minority because most of those residing on those seats got their because they are not innovators nor people of ethical stripe, but because they are almost all political party hacks.
... Repairing the Senate people also must understand exactly what the original intent of the Senate was. The fact that it is supposed to be the house of sober second thought is beyond laughable. Its presence was instituted to protect the regions from the concentrated political power of Central Canada. It makes sense. It still does. It protects provincial rights. Canada has a very large physical land mass. The intent of the Senate structure was sound. It still can work effectively. If it did its job, regional alienation for independence would be counteracted. Had the Senators, and the House of Commons been up to the job, this problem would never have been needed for visitation. Oh curses, here we are.
... The NDP and others who lack appreciation of the original purpose of the Senate creation, fail to understand that had the Senate worked the way it is supposed to, it would facilitate a better political process than the one we have now. The major flaw of the Senate structure is that all the power resides in the Prime Minister. He's the one who selects or nominates those names to the Crown.
... This appointment structure led to two major difficulties. One all the Senators owe their loyalty to a single politician not to the regions that they are supposed to represent. The second problem is that in cases where the Prime Minister wants to expedite legislation through the sober thinkers instead of persuasion, the PM stuffs the Senate with useless and often corrupt party loyalists. As a result the Senate becomes a bloated monster.
... Without question, there are way too many Senators with a career incumbency beyond reality. They are Senators until they reach 75. They might resign to work in a real job. Resignations happen but most Senators remain in their plush jobs until death or 75 which ever comes first. Ideally all Senators should be on term limits, and replaced at the end of those terms at the pleasure of the province they represent, not the will of the federal Prime Minister.
... Then the maximum Senate Reform is abolition. That can and will be defeated by the Supreme Court on entrenched Constitutional clauses. However, simply reducing the number of Senators, removing the power of the Prime Minister in favor of the provincial governments with regard to appointing those Senators and that those nominees placed on a list subject to provincial suffrage.
... To make the process of selecting Senator even more effective, thirty Senator vacancies would be three from each province and another thirty from federal names selected from nominee lists provided by recognized official parties, and parsed by the percentage of the national popular vote from the previous but immediate federal election. The appointment terms would be eight years. Any vacancy caused by death or departure would remain vacant until the next federal election. But that will never happen as long as the power to appoint Senators remains solely in the hands of the Prime Minister.
... So this is the conundrum facing all the country, the greatest block to reforming the Canadian Senate is the Senate itself. Time has proved one thing, like the other party leaders occupying the PMO, Harper hasn't proved up to the job.
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