Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
I'm always baffled why people in Western Canada think giving the Atlantic Provinces 40% of the senate seats when they make up less than 8% of the country's population is a good idea. I'm further baffled why people think this will give the West more power in Ottawa; on the vast majority of issues, Atlantic Canada is far more likely to vote with Quebec and Ontario than they are with the West.
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Parliament is already Rep-by-Pop (or is supposed to be, in theory). So the idea with the Senate is that it would be equal to all provinces. Why give Rhode Island the same amount of Senate seats as New York state? The reason is obvious. Rhode Island doesn't matter in the House of Representatives... but their 2 Senators could make a huge difference. Nova Scotia, Alberta, and Quebec are all supposed to be equal partners in Confederation with everyone else... if that means the Atlantic provinces suddenly matter, that's equality. They're a part of the country too.
Its shortsighted to assume that provinces would all vote together. In fact, its highly likely that provinces like Ontario would have 1 Liberal and 1 Conservative. It would still be party based, but like I said, now every voice matters rather than two.
Frankly, to cater to the provincial argument, Atlantic Canada would likely be split between the CPC, LPC and NDP. Each Senator would vote with their party. Even if they didn't... you'd be surprised with who would ally with whom... especially noting that the Western desire for more provincial autonomy would resonate with places like Quebec and Newfoundland.