“I can definitely say to you without qualification that they are a minority,” Sen. Brown said of the dissenters, though he declined to name names or specify how many of the Conservatives’ 57 Senators disagreed with legislation to introduce term limits and provincial Senate elections.
But some Senators who disagree with the proposed changes, which are outlined in bill C-7, currently at second reading before the House, have gone public.
Quebec Conservative Sen. David Angus, who retired on July 21 after 19 years in the Red Chamber, told The Hill Times that the Senate cannot be elected without amending the Constitution.
“I am personally against an elected Senate but I’m not against reform,” Sen. Angus told The Hill Times last week, adding that he is a “very loyal Conservative.”
Sen. Angus said in his view the Senate needs to be modernized and made accountable, but that the current bill, which gives the provinces the option to hold elections to select nominees, who would then be appointed by the Prime Minister, is not the way to go.
“It’s very hard to amend the Constitution. I think if we want to amend the Constitution we should face up to it. I don’t think you can make an elected Senate without a constitutional amendment, that’s my legal view,” Sen. Angus said.
“I don’t believe in tinkering with the Constitution, but I’m a very loyal Conservative. And Mr. Harper has consistently said since he went into public life that he would like to help reform the Senate and therefore I think he feels committed to that. There are many ways to reform the Senate,” Sen. Angus said, a lawyer by profession.
“Do I have the answer? No. But let the premiers, the provinces and the federal government meet in a constitutional conference and decide how they want to do it,” he said.
The proposed bill also limits Senators appointed after October 2008 to either serving a nine-year term or retiring at the established age of 75, whichever comes first. A Senator’s term would officially begin whenever the reform legislation is passed. If passed in the fall, the term would expire in 2021.
With Sen. Angus’s departure last week, there are 57 Conservative Senators, 40 Liberals, one Progressive Conservative and two independents. There are now five vacancies: two in Ontario, one in Nova Scotia, one in New Brunswick and one in Quebec. More Senators are expected to retire this fall. There are 105 seats in total.
Another Quebec Senator, Pierre Claude Nolin, has also spoken out against the reforms, but declined to be interviewed by The Hill Times as the bill is not yet before the Senate.
Sen. Brown said that time is on the Prime Minister’s side when it comes to getting the reforms passed, as more Senators would be reaching the mandatory retirement age and stepping down. He deflected the idea that this suggests it is Conservatives appointed by prime minister Brian Mulroney in the early 1990s who are opposed to the reforms.
“I don’t know about the Mulroney era, but I’m just saying that the more time goes by, the more people reach 75 years of age and they automatically leave the Senate,” he said.
As the older members leave, Mr. Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) has the opportunity to appoint reform-minded replacements. Since being elected in 2006, he has appointed 46 Senators, and 42 are still sitting.
Mr. Mulroney appointed both Sen. Nolin and Sen. Angus in 1993, but the problem is not just with older Senators. Some Senators who were appointed by Mr. Harper on the promise of working towards Senate reform are also proving problematic, said Mr. Brown.
“Some of them are going back on their word…that’s a personal decision on their own,” said Mr. Brown.
The caucus issues affected Mr. Harper’s decision to introduce his reform bill in the House of Commons rather than the Senate when it was tabled in June 2011, said Sen. Brown.
“I think some of the reaction of the Senators led the Prime Minister to think it was just a lot easier to go forward in the Commons,” he said.
This is the eighth time that Mr. Harper has attempted to pass reform legislation since being elected prime minister in 2006. The previous seven bills have died on the order paper due to prorogation or elections calls, and none made it past second reading.
Sen. Brown said there would “very definitely” be progress on the legislation in the fall. However, the bill faces significant criticism from the Liberals and the New Democrats.
“You need to consult with the provinces. You simply can’t do it by an act of Parliament,” said Liberal Nova Scotia Senator James Cowan, the opposition leader in the Senate.
Sen. Cowan said that while he is not personally opposed to term limits or elections, the bill leaves a lot of questions about how Parliament would work with an elected Senate unanswered. He also said that the Liberals don’t think that Senate reform without Constitutional amendment is lawful.
Sen. Brown said that ultimately, full reform of the Senate would require constitutional amendments, which can only be done with the agreement of seven provinces holding at least 50 per cent of Canada’s population.
He said that is why his work liaising with provincial governments and persuading them to introduce Senate reform legislation in their own legislatures is important.
“That’s why I work, why I’ve gone across the country four times in my history talking to various premiers and their governments,” he said.
Sen. Brown, Canada’s second Senator to be appointed after being selected by a provincial elections contest, will retire next year when he turns 75. He leaves Alberta Conservative Senator Betty Unger, Canada’s only other current elected Senator, behind. Sen. Unger was appointed in Jan. 2012. The very first Senator to be appointed after getting elected was Alberta’s Stan Waters in 1990.
So far, Alberta is the only province to have held elections for Senate nominees. Saskatchewan has the legal framework to do it too, but has yet to hold an election as it would like the federal government to pay for it.
British Columbia is currently considering a private members bill on holding elections, something Premier Christy Clark has said the government would support. New Brunswick is considering government-introduced legislation and Prince Edward Island is looking into the matter.
Sen. Angus said that the fear surrounding opening up the Constitution for amending the Senate is that it would lead to the provinces trying to strong-arm concessions out of the federal government.
“There is a fear today that because we have this issue with Quebec, we have issues with immigration, with natural resources with the environment, that are really hot topics, and if you get around the big table, purportedly to deal with senate reform, this premier is going to say, ‘Yeah you want me to vote on your position for Senate, then I want more Senators for my province, or I want the new securities regulator to be placed in Hull,’” he said.
He also said that the appetite for a Triple-E senate, meaning elected, equal and effective, has passed out of vogue.
“The outcry for that is no longer there,” he said.
An elected Senate would be dysfunctional and lead to disputes with the House, said Sen. Angus.
“If they were to have an elected Senate it would just turn into another House of Commons,” he said.
Sen. Brown said that in his 20-year quest to reform the Senate, he has consulted with Constitutional scholars, and that there is a way to have an elected and effective Senate while retaining the supremacy of the House of Commons.
He said if there is a bill that isn’t supported by the majority of Canadians, the Senate would be able to veto the bill with the support of a majority of Senators representing seven provinces and 50 per cent of the Canadian population, but the veto would not be considered a matter of non-confidence in the government.
Concerns surrounding the effect of an elected Senate on Canada’s democratic system are overblown by people unfamiliar with the legislation, said Sen. Angus.
“There’s all kinds of constitutional people that because they haven’t studied this document they come up with some pretty funny worries about the future Senate,” he said.
The Prime Minister is very committed to Senate reform, said both Sen. Angus and Sen. Brown.
Sen. Brown said that Senate reform is a long term challenge that is for the benefit of the country.
“We’re putting this together for the next 100 years, not just for the Prime Minister of the day, and I know that’s what he wants,” he said.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: JESSICA BRUNO, JAMES GRIGG
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