Quote:
Originally Posted by Rerun
Control of the Senate will result in Senate reform. Its all ready been proven many times over that a Liberal dominated Senate will obstruct all attempts at reforming the status quo. The Senate Liberals intend to fight any change tooth and nail. They will, I fear, only go down kicking and screaming. Liberals are only for Senate reform in name only. They've had plenty of chances in the past where they've had the ability but totally lacked the will.
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The problem has not been the number of senators alone though; provinces such as the maritimes and Quebec are going to fight this. There is is no way that a province such as Nova Scotia wants to enter into this discussion and not see gains as a result.
Then you have other provinces such as Manitoba where the stance is pure abolition. They are on the road to elected senators at this point (as is Saskatchewan). At any rate, this is a whole constitutional mess that has to be opened to do this properly. Its not a quick and simple, lets have elections and even things out motion.
I also think that there is an interesting point in the article in the Globe and Mail this morninig about the provinces losing some power in the process. Once you start electing senators provincially to represent you then it does have to lessen the clout that a premier will have.
I'm really not sold on the whole Triple E thing for a few reasons, but mainly because we already send enough representatives to Ottawa who are consertive from Alberta and I think that the message is sent. Does it do much good for the average citizen to send more? If we can't come to a decent solution for the senate then we might as well abolish it I guess. Its a shame because I think it does provide sober second thought, and the committee work and initiatives undertaken there by members of all political parties are excellent for the country. It has to be said that because they are not elected and in some ways not fighting for a re-election every couple of years that the hope is that they will do some things for the good of the country even if these decisions are not the easiest politically just because of that fact...although I'm not saying that is always the case and surely someone will now give me a list of examples where this is not.