The question of Senate Reform has been a controversial issue for a long time and is still being debated today. Recently, NDP leader Jack Layton voiced his desire for a referendum regarding the abolition of the Senate (as reported in the CBC news article NDP wants referendum on Senate).
This article states that Jack Layton and the NDP have "called for a referendum so Canadians can vote on whether the Senate should be abolished." While Layton believes that the Senate should be abolished, "the NDP still wants Canadians to have a say on its future."
While the topic of Senate reform has been brought up on multiple occasions, the topic of abolishing the Senate is not as common. While the Senate may lack authority, due to it not being an elected body, and it may not receive much respect, the Senate still has a role to play.
Instead of abolishing the Senate completely, I believe that there would be more benefit to having some form of Senate reform. The main areas that need to be considered in a Senate reform are the appointment process for new Senators; the guidelines surrounding the attendance of Senators; the proper use of the Senate's power; and the distribution of seats among the provinces.
While I do believe it is commendable for Layton to call for a change to the current Senate, I believe he goes to far in asking for it to be abolished. If the proper steps are taken in order to reform the Senate, I believe it could become a respectable body of government and once again fill the role it was initially meant to, being a body of "sober-second-thought."
1 comment:
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the topic of the Senate, but I'm not at all surprised that the NDP would speak for abolishing it. I don't think the Senate is very useful, I see it as more of a symbolic body. I assume that we, as Canadian taxpayers, pay the salaries of the Senators. So, the NDP, always caring about how much money the lower classes have to spend, would want the Senate abolished so people would have to pay fewer taxes. However, I don't think they could ever come right out and say that. It'd be a slap in the face to the Senators, and it'd also bring up the topic of just how much MPs get paid.
I think senate reform is a potentially good idea, but I'm not sure how I feel about abolition. However, I do think it would be interesting to put the topic to a referendum.
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