Quote:
Originally Posted by Cuz
The benefit of having the second chamber (at least in the Westminster model), is the senate is proportional representation rather than representation by population like the House of Commons. Now we do need to adjust our proportional representation numbers (western Canada is under represented while the Maritimes is over represented), but the principle remains the same.
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Except the senate is only proportional by region rather than by province so Ontario and Quebec still dominate. But that could be reformed as well I suppose.
But any system in which one house can be controlled by 1 party and the other house by another leads to inefficiecy and vote buying. The elected dictator model we currently follow is far superior. In order to justify the senates transformation into a house of "sober second thought" you would need to point out problems we currently have. I think there is a misnomer that the status quo includes a westminster model senate. In doesn;t, the status quo includes a second house that rubber stamps everything accept pay cuts to the senate.
So the least impactful solution to our current form of governance is just to abolish the senate entirely. It maintains the governance structure we currently have and saves us a billion dollars a year or so.