We need the Senate, but not as it is now. The current Senate is far too inefective, inefficient, and undemocratic. I don’t agree with Stephen Harper much, but I do agree with him when he says the Senate needs to change. What makes something democratic? The will of the people. That said, the Senate needs to be elected, effective, and accountable.
To start, Senate elections should be federally regulated by Elections Canada. It isn’t up to the provinces to elect people to a federal body. Senate elections should be on a fixed term, say every 6 years. This will provide stability in Parliament. Next, the election should be by proportional representation. If a party gets a 20% of the vote, they get 20% of the seats. There should of course be limitations placed on this to protect the Senate from radical parties. So maybe a party only starts winning seats if they secure over 5% of the vote. The way this will work is each party that is running in the Senate election will put forward a list of the candidates in order of presedence. As voters, we will look at the list for our geographic area, whether it be a province or a region, and decide which candidates or party we support. If a party get 20% of the vote, and there are 105 Senators, the first 21 people on the list for that Party win seats.
The seats should continue to be geographically dispersed as well. It wont be easy to appease the provinces in this area. Perhaps a formula would need to be created that takes population and land mass into account. Something that will award seats fairly without making certain provinces *cough*cough* cranky. If this means increasing the size of the Senate, then so be it. We could also get away from awarding the seats by province. I don’t think we need to get as specific as the federal ridings for House of Commons elections, but lets take Ontario for example: South Western Ontario, GTA, Central Ontario, Eastern Ontario, Northern Ontario. That’s more specific than provincial, but less specific than riding.
Next, the Senate needs to be as powerful as the House. The governing party should still be the party that wins the House of Commons (which should also be election by proportional representation, but that’s a different blog post!), and of course the budget bill should originate from the House, but the Senate should have the power to introduce and debate and other bills they see fit. And they should exercise this power. The Senate should sit as often as the House, and it should be able to amend House legislation without getting the stink eye from the House.
It’s time we turn Parliament into the truly democratic, bi-camaral, institution its supposed to be. Elect and strengthen an accountable and democratic Senate.
