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Old 04-23-2012, 06:01 PM   #3641
MarchHare
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IntenseFan View Post
But we don't need the Consitution to be amended. All we need is for the Federal party in power to state that the PM will "consider" the advice of the people of the nominating province when exercising his appointing power (i.e. he will respect their choices). The Supreme Court of Canada has stated this would be ok for the PM to do, so long as he doesn't completely abdicate that power.

One of my big disappointments in the Harper Government is that this has been inconsistent and indeed only the minority of appointments from Alberta. This has also led to voter and indeed candidate apathy (with no Federal party even putting a person up).
We need a constitutional amendment for senate elections to be binding. Until then, the PM of the day can appoint anyone he or she chooses. If a more left-wing province also had non-binding senate elections and voted for a Liberal or NDP candidate, does anyone really think Harper would appoint him or her?
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