Reforming the Canadian Senate

Nobody really likes the Canadian Senate as it is, except sitting Prime Ministers. Yet it has never been reformed, because it is an ideal opportunity for patronage appointments. It also serves some small use as a way of getting a desired person into cabinet who does not have a Commons seat.

On the left, the NDP wants to abolish it. On the right, the old Reformers and Westerners commonly want a “Triple-E” Senate on the American model: elected, equal, and effective. Equal here meaning equal representation for each province. This would boost Western representation in Parliament.

To my mind a Triple-E senate is a non-starter. There is no constitutional justification for it. In the US, sovereignty resides with the states. In Canada, the provinces are supposed to be creatures of the federal government. As for accommodating regional differences, a Triple-E senate in Canada would reduce minority representation, rather than enhance it, by drastically reducing the voice of Quebec in federal affairs. In democratic terms, a Triple-E senate is an abomination: it gives one Prince Edward Islander over 100 times the influence of one Ontarian. And a bicameral legislature in which either house can introduce legislation is a perfect recipe for constant crisis. What if one party holds a majority in one house, and another party in the other? Witness, for example, the US's current negotiations over the debt ceiling. Worse, a foreign government can negotiate a treaty with the US President, in good faith, and then it turns out not to be passed by the legislature. The US has always been able to get away with this kind of gridlock and unreliability, first because it was so isolated from the rest of the world, and now because it is so powerful. A smaller, less influential country may not be able to afford it.

There is nothing wrong, on the other hand, with simply abolishing the Senate. Other than the fact that no sitting Prime Minister is ever likely to do it, because it is so convenient for patronage.

Here's an alternative proposal. First, make the Senate a national body elected by a national vote, by proportional representation, from party lists.

The riding system already represents the regions. What we do not have, in Canada, is a body of individuals—or even one individual, with the possible exception of the Queen or Governor-General--who represents the interests of the federation as a whole. This promotes division in a federation rather prone to division. The Senate, in this elected form, would do precisely that. Each senator would be answerable to the national electorate as a whole, and would have to face them again next election.

The proportional representation model might also let minority voices be heard that are not in the first-past-the-post system. At present, a party like the Greens can get eleven or twelve percent of the vote nationwide, yet not hold a seat.

This form of Senate has, I think, some chance of getting passed by a party in power, because it does not completely remove the patronage function of the current senate. It simply spreads it out among the different party leaders, so that there is more ideological diversity. A valuable player or a revered war horse could be more or less assured a seat by placing them at the top of the party lists for the Senate elections.

This still does not address the issue of gridlock between the two chambers. For that, I offer part two of my proposal: assign a different legislative role to each house. The Commons could continue as at present, initiating legislation. The Senate would have only the power to repeal.

This would eliminate any direct conflict between the chambers. It eould, however, give the Senate an effective veto over any legislation, retaining its historical mission as a place of “sober second thought.” And it would do something more, and something worth having a separate chamber to do. At present, the tendency is for laws and government to just keep piling up, extending further and further. This, as Ibn Khaldun pointed out hundreds of years ago, is what causes most nations and dynasties to eventually collapse. We would have a chamber dedicated to preventing this.