[octothorp]

I do support the concept of an elected and effective senate. But those two things go hand-in-hand; when you have a body of individuals who have been appointed by present and past prime-ministers actually flexing their muscles and shooting down legislation that has been passed by the house, that's a pretty big circumvention of democracy.

I think you need to remove the party system from the senate as much as possible in order to make it effective. If it's just a bunch of Liberals and a bunch of Conservatives and a handful members of other parties, it's just going to be a parrot of the house. As much as I hate to admit it (because I was against it at the time), the original approach that Alberta PCs put forward where senators come out of the provincial election system actually makes a lot of sense. As well, in my ideal system, every candidate must operate their election as an independent, regardless of views or previous political affiliations.