The Canadian Senate: a threat to democracy

Andrew Cichocki
Contributor
The Canadian Senate is rarely in the news because it usually doesn’t do anything.
That’s why Nov. 16, 2010 stands out. It’s a historical day – the day the rubber-stamping committee killed a bill that passed through the House of Commons, something it very rarely does.
To quote the Canadian Press, “According to Liberal and NDP research, the Senate has killed five bills since 1947 – but only after thorough debate, testimony from dozens of witnesses and clause-by-clause examination by a committee.”

As if the Senate killing a bill that passed through the House of Commons wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse: they didn’t even debate or hear a witness. Stephen Harper so loathed Bill C-311 – the Climate Change Accountability Act – that he used this expensive reminder of our government’s British origins as a vetoing tool.
If you are not familiar with it, this is how the Canadian Senate works: a Prime Minister appoints whomever he wants as a senator for life. Our parliamentary system is modelled after the Westminster system so we have a “lower house” (our lowly, democratically elected representatives) and an “upper house.” As the upper house, the Senate is supposed to debate on a bill which has passed through the lower house and either kill it or allow it to become law. No debate took place this time.
Back in 2007 Jack Layton wanted the Senate abolished and Stephen Harper agreed with him. It seems Harper has had a change of heart now that the Senate is controlled by the Conservatives he appointed.
I strongly believe our Senate should either be reformed to have elected positions and limited terms, like in the U.S., or be abolished entirely. The system we have now is undemocratic; what’s to stop Stephen Harper from killing any bill he doesn’t like?
Will this start becoming common practice in Canada? What if our next Prime Minister is not a Conservative; what power will they have if all their bills could be killed without debate? This is an issue we must all seriously consider as citizens of a democracy.