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Here’s An Idea: A Federal Senate Referendum
So, it appears that Saskatchewan is joining the elected Senators club – and then there were 2.
The poll numbers are hard to read: only 46% of Canadians want an elected Senate. There you have it! End of story, we lose.
Of course of the 35% that don’t (the rest are undecided), we must reasonably assume at least half of these would choose “getting rid of the Senate” versus “having the Prime Minister appoint failed candidates”.
So, while the Tories want an elected Senate, the NDP and BQ hold out for abolishing the Senate (which would require, gulp, opening the Constitution), and the Liberals don’t want to lose their well manicured Liberal playground, the status quo rules, with a slim minority of support.
Here’s a grand idea: HOLD A PROVINCE-BY-PROVINCE REFERENDUM DURING THE NEXT FEDERAL ELECTION.
With the exception of Alberta and Saskatchewan (and Nunvaut … which is another Constitutional matter), put a question on the ballot:
“Should [Nova Scotia]:
1. Elect Senators with a province-wide ballot, or
2. Continue with the current tradition of having the Prime Minister appoint Senators at their own discretion.”
If a province selects option 2, well, let the next Prime Minister get on with it.
If a province selects option 1, then the next Prime Minister loses the moral authority to appoint Senators at his (or her) own discretion. It would also give the moral authority a province would need to introduce legislation a la Saskatchewan and Alberta.
You can bet that those provinces that selected option 2 (if any) would reconsider this in the decade or two to come.
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