Rage

The Senate doesn't go against the will of the House of Commons very often. When it does however, it gets a significant amount of news coverage as it brings up that 1990's issue of reform to the legislative body. It happened before with the GST and it has occurred this past week with the Climate Change Accountability Act.

As the bill was brought forward by the NDP, this wonderful piece of legislation is near and dear to my heart. It followed the guidelines as established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requiring greenhouse gas emissions to be 80% lower than their 1990 levels by 2050. It passed the House of Commons with the Conservatives voting against it, and was the first bill requiring emissions reductions by a democratic body. By the time it had reached the appointed Senate Harper was fed up. The bill failed to pass second reading in the upper chamber without debate.

Ladies and gentlemen this is another example of the failings with the Senate, let alone the groups and individuals in the Senate. Should an appointed body have the power to stop legislation as approved by a democratic body? Put simply, no! Worse still, it could have been passed had more Liberal Senators bothered to show up for the vote but considering their pension is already lined up why would they bother to stop Harper?

The Climate Change Accountability Act is a fantastic piece of legislation that should be enacted, but Harper's allies stopped it with indirect assistance from lazy Liberals. As I stated earlier this year and to reiterate the NDP and Bloc Quebecois position on the Senate, it's time we abolish the upper chamber and remain content with the democratically elected House of Commons, and save energy, time and money.