- David Frum: Canada's Senate -- unredeemed and unreformed
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For two years, Stephen Harper pressed the provinces to hold elections so that he could appoint democratically selected senators. They ignored him.
For two years, Harper minimized prime ministerial powers of patronage in the Senate. Again: Nobody responded.
Harper's principles exposed him to political danger. The partisan balance in the Senate has deteriorated to the point where the Liberals outnumber Conservatives by a margin of nearly 3-to-1 (58 to 20).Fears that the Liberals would abuse this unelected advantage are well grounded in history. John Turner used his base in the Senate to thwart the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Treaty in 1988, forcing an election. (Turner misjudged the election's outcome -- but his misjudgment of the result does not beautify the ugliness of his manoeuvre.)
- Elaine McCoy: The Senate reform Canadians wanted
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Now that Stephen Harper has filled 18 Senate vacancies, he can forge ahead with his goal of reforming the Senate itself. In the new year, we may well see the Conservatives reintroduce bills that will propose elections for future Senators and fixed eight-year terms.
But Harper should not presume to know what significant changes Canadians would like for their institutions without asking them first. He might be surprised at the response.
We know he has already ignored one consultative report on the issue. Last year, he asked Canadians what they thought of their government, and they told him. The 2007 Compas report that the Harper government itself commissioned ('Public consultations on Canada's Democratic Institutions and Practices: A Report for the Privy Council Office') provides in-depth consultations with a wide assortment of Canadians from across the country.
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