Raging on the Red Chamber

The Senate of Canada was created in 1867 following the confederation of our nation. It was meant to represent powerful people who compose our society, while the House of Commons was for the rest of us. It was intended to compare with the British House of Lords, and be appointed. The opinion of the day was that this house would not block or slow down bills passed by the Lower Chamber, it would simply give a "sober second thought" according to John A. Macdonald of the laws being proposed.

Under the British North America Act of 1867, the provinces currently in Canada were guaranteed a certain of number of seats regardless of their population. Ontario and Quebec had 24 each, while the Maritimes of the time then only consisting of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia had 24 together as well. Since then, our nation has clearly grown from sea to sea (or some might argue from sea to sea to sea), and as a result there are now over a hundred seats in the chamber. Even from the get go, there were problems with this chamber, they were appointed by the Governor General upon the advice of the Prime Minister, and representation by population wasn't a vocabulary term anyone grasped yet.

Today, the Senate is composed of 51 Conservatives, 49 Liberals, 2 Progressive Conservatives, 2 independent members and an unaffiliated member. The Conservatives (at least before) stood for reforming the Senate into a triple-E system (equal, effective & elected), but as of now Mr. Harper is handing out seats to anyone who's currently unemployed. The Liberals are for the provinces electing Senators during their elections, while the NDP and the Bloc are for the abolition of the House.

I side with the NDP and the Bloc on this issue. We cannot continue this example of political patronage any longer; it is a waste of time, a waste of money, and a waste of energy. Together, the Senators take up $15 million per year, that's money that should be flowing through the pockets of our consumers to help stimulate the economy. They are great investigators I will give you that; but should an appointed individual really be telling the Prime Minister what he thinks the people want? Besides, in the few cases where they have blocked the House of Commons (such as the GST), all it took was a little provision to be found by the Prime Minister of the time, to solve it. There is no reason why the work the Senators currently do cannot be solely completed by the elected MPs.

Also, if Mr. Harper is reading this, I'm willing to sit in the Senate and take $130,000 per year just for arguing with the Liberals.