Canadian Senate Reform
There has been growing discord over the past 30 some years by politicians and citizens alike in regards to the role that the Canadian Senate plays in politics in Canada, as well as its function and makeup. There have been many proposals aimed at Senate reform as well as a few concerted efforts to bring some of these proposals to fruition. An examination of some of these proposals would not be complete however without first looking at the purpose for which the Senate was created, as well as its function and membership criteria. The Canadian Senate was initially established to mirror the House of Lords in the United Kingdom in some respects. ... Contemporary politics would suggest that the Provinces and Territories, not regions are basic to our sense of community and identity and therefore should become the basic units of Senate representation thus allowing Senators to respond more quickly and effectively to regional concerns. ... The distribution of seats from some appointed and elected senate reform proposals can be found in Appendix A. ... They do however feel, particularly among proponents of an appointed Senate, that this new distribution of seats should continue to reflect the disparities in population among the provinces. The Molgat-Cosgrove proposal of 1984 felt that although substantial overrepresentation of the smaller provinces is desirable, by distributing Senate seats equally these smaller provinces would become grossly overrepresented. ... The existing Senate has 46% of its membership coming from central Canada, 29% from the Atlantic Provinces and only 23% coming from the West. Those proposals in favour of equal representation among the provinces argued that the distribution of Senate seats according to population causes the Senate to be a duplicate institution of the House of Commons. Making representation in the Senate equal among the provinces rather than by population, The Canada West Foundation argued, would satisfy both the call for representation of citizens in the national legislative process on the basis of population; in the House of Commons, and region; in the Senate. At the June 1990 First Ministers Conference on the Constitution, the federal government along with all ten provinces agreed that the less populous provinces and territories should be more equitably represented in the Senate. ... The recommendations of these examinations were incorporated in the Charlettown agreement which concluded that the Senate seats be equitably distributed by province rather than by population. The process by which one becomes a Senator is perhaps the biggest area of contention for proponents of Senate reform. ... Most recent proposals for a reformed Senate include one that is democratically elected, however there have been some ideas of reform to the appointment process only. ... to reform to an elected Senate. ... were initially appointed until Oregon forced the issue onto the national stage by holding its own Senate election. ... a Triple E Senate. ... More still believe that an appointed Senate can more easily assure that minority groups are represented in the Upper House. Some of the ideas for reform to the appointment process include those considered by The Special Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Commons on Senate reform in 1984 who suggested that a committee to appoint Senators be formed comprised of a group of reputable citizens in manner analogous to the system of selecting federal judges. ... Another idea is to replace the Senate with a House of Provinces modeled after the German Bundesrat. ... Arguments made for an elected Senate generally focus on the view of legitimacy. ... Perhaps the biggest booster of an elected Senate has been the Reform Party of Canada. They would like to see a Triple E Senate similar to the one found in the United States. ... Those proposals that favour an elected Senate do differ on voting procedures however, including constituency size, voting system, and voting timetables as well as term length.