Beware Triple-E Senate

Two-thirds of Canadians want an elected Senate, according to an Angus Reid online poll. The recent muscle-flexing by the new Conservative majority in the still-appointed chamber should be a warning to Canadians to be careful with their wishes.

Remember, the Senate enjoys almost coequal legislative power with the "rep by pop" House of Commons, the confidence chamber from whose members the government of Canada is chosen and to whose members the government is accountable. There is only one restriction on the Senate's legislative power: It cannot initiate money bills.

Now remember, representation in the Senate has changed little since Confederation in 1867. The Fathers of Confederation rejected the American notion of equality of provinces in favour of equality of regions. The 105-seat Senate has four regions: the West, the Maritimes, Ontario and Quebec.

The Fathers of Confederation also rejected election in favour of appointment, recognizing that in the parliamentary system, a second chamber should restrict itself to "sober second thought" and only in the most unusual circumstances, trump the decisions of the popularly elected chamber to whom the government is accountable.

Remember also how unrepresentative the Canadian Senate is. Two provinces/regions -- Ontario and Quebec -- have 62 per cent of Canada's population but only 46 per cent (48) of the Senate seats. The West -- with four provinces and three territories -- has 31 per cent of the population and 26 per cent (27) of the Senate seats. The Maritimes -- with four provinces -- has only seven per cent of the population but 29 per cent (30) Senate seats.

Last week, Canadians got a taste of what an unelected but suddenly emboldened effective Senate is capable of doing. The Conservatives' new majority in the upper house killed, without even bothering to debate, a private member's bill that had easily passed the House of Commons.

Do Canadians really want this grossly unequal Senate, appointed or even elected, to routinely exercise coequal power with the House of Commons?

Empowering the unelected, unequal and effective Senate is just the latest display of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's authoritarian bent. It's in keeping with his two politically motivated prorogations, his contempt for parliamentary debate, parliamentary accountability and parliament itself, his disdain and hatred of political opponents, his muzzling of candidates, MPs and ministers and his routine refusal to engage with Canadians in open public forums, preferring infomercials before tame crowds posted for the party faithful on social websites like Facebook.

There is speculation in Ottawa that now that the government has a majority in the Senate, it may choose to introduce most of its legislation there.

This would be a "back to the future" trip for Senate history buffs. Canada tried the Conservatives' favoured "Triple-E" -- elected, equal and effective -- Senate in the 1850s. It turned out to be "not so much Triple-E as Triple-R: rich, rural and reactionary," according to historian Christopher Moore. The Fathers of Confederation abolished it in 1867.

The Conservatives' proposed Triple-E Senate would retain its virtual coequal power with the Commons. Like its Triple-R ancestor -- rich, rural and reactionary -- a future elected Senate would also have large ridings and long terms. The Conservatives' proposed term-limits legislation calls for eight years. Add constituencies likely as large as an entire territory or one-sixth of a province and Senate membership would likely be as biased toward the wealthy and the conservative as it was 150 years ago. Representing far more people for much longer terms would endow senators with greater power and legitimacy than MPs, whose terms are half as long and whose ridings are much smaller.

Over time, the Senate could become the more powerful and important of the two chambers. Canada would evolve into a confederacy, not a representative democracy.

The prime minister has been trying to reform the Senate piecemeal by encouraging provinces to hold Senate elections concurrent with provincial ones. Several provinces, most notably Ontario and Quebec, have threatened to take Ottawa to the Supreme Court should it try any Senate reforms without first obtaining a constitutional amendment requiring approval from seven provinces with 50 per cent of the population.

The next few months should be interesting and informative on the Senate reform front. Now that he has stuffed the Senate with his partisans, Harper's zeal for reform may fade.

Today's Conservative-dominated Senate is precisely the kind of legislature that suits the prime minister's temperament: effective, unequal and, best of all, unquestioningly obedient.

Frances Russell is a Winnipeg writer and political commentator.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 1, 2010 A13