Ten years\u00a0after\u00a0promising to fix the Senate and\u00a0put an\u00a0end\u00a0to\u00a0Liberal\u00a0scandal and corruption,\u00a0Stephen Harper\u00a0and his Conservatives have now come to embody everything they opposed until they formed government.\u00a0Instead,\u00a0Harper\u2019s legacy\u00a0on the Senate\u00a0is\u00a0one of broken promises and failed policies.\u00a0His\u00a02006 election\u00a0promise\u00a0never to appoint an unelected senator was broken\u00a0even\u00a0before his first cabinet\u00a0was\u00a0sworn in. \u00a0And his\u00a0Senate reform\u00a0policies sat idle on the floor of the House of Commons for years before finally being sent to the Supreme Court, which confirmed that his plan was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Liberals, on the other hand,\u00a0like to argue that the Senate plays a key role in our parliamentary system as a\u00a0chamber of\u00a0sober\u00a0second thought and a voice for\u00a0Canada\u2019s\u00a0regions.\u00a0But time and again senators have shown they\u00a0actually work for the narrow interests of their political party \u2014 ahead of creating sound public policy or representing their regions\u00a0or provinces.\u00a0The Supreme Court also noted that Liberals\u00a0and the Conservatives\u00a0have appointed defeated candidates, campaign managers, party faithful and financial donors, at a rate of 95 percent over the last 150 years.<\/p>\n
By contrast, New Democrats have\u00a0refused\u00a0to accept\u00a0senators in\u00a0our\u00a0caucus\u00a0on principle, and Senate abolition has been the\u00a0consistent\u00a0position\u00a0of the NDP for decades. We believe that in a\u00a0modern\u00a0democracy,\u00a0there is\u00a0simply\u00a0no room for\u00a0unelected\u00a0parliamentarians\u00a0who have the power to enact\u00a0laws\u00a0and\u00a0defeat\u00a0legislation\u00a0adopted by the\u00a0democratically elected\u00a0House of Commons.\u00a0This power, it should be noted, has been exercised a number of times\u00a0during\u00a0Harper\u2019s\u00a0tenure, including the \u00a0defeat\u00a0of Jack Layton\u2019s ground-breaking\u00a0climate change\u00a0legislation and, more\u00a0recently, the\u00a0demise of\u00a0NDP MP Randal Garrison\u2019s Bill\u00a0C-279\u00a0on transgender rights,\u00a0through systematic\u00a0delay\u00a0of\u00a0its passage\u00a0in the Senate over\u00a0more than two years.<\/p>\n
Of\u00a0course,\u00a0New Democrats know that\u00a0Senate abolition\u00a0can only\u00a0be\u00a0achieved\u00a0in consultation with the provinces. Unlike Stephen Harper,\u00a0who persistently refuses to meet with his provincial counterparts, I have committed to meeting with\u00a0the assembly of Canada\u2019s premiers at least twice a year.<\/p>\n
Last year, the Supreme Court set out the constitutional\u00a0roadmap\u00a0for\u00a0Senate abolition. And while Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau have done their best to interpret the judgement as a confirmation that the Senate cannot be abolished, the truth is that the court took great care to state that\u00a0\u201cthe desirability of changes [to\u00a0the Senate] is not a question for the court: it is an issue for Canadians and for their legislatures.”<\/p>\n
If we\u00a0take stock of the\u00a0proposals\u00a0currently\u00a0on the table, abolition is the only\u00a0option\u00a0that\u00a0will be\u00a0effective in the\u00a0long term. And the NDP has confidence that Canadians do not share the defeatist approach of those who proclaim that abolition is impossible.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the Liberals are content to peddle the status quo as if it is actually a change. Trudeau\u2019s pretence that he accomplished something by barring his senators from attending weekly meetings has deservingly been panned as ineffective. Liberal senators have become Senate Liberals who continue to vote as Liberals, and many of them continue to fundraise as Liberals and\u00a0campaign for the Liberal Party.<\/p>\n
Justin Trudeau\u00a0also\u00a0claims that\u00a0the problems of the Senate will be solved if we\u00a0simply\u00a0appoint \u2018\u2019better senators\u2019\u2019 through\u00a0a\u00a0new, supposedly nonpartisan, merit-based\u00a0process, whose details remain thoroughly unclear.\u00a0This\u00a0is a plan that cannot be taken seriously as it fails to\u00a0address the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the institution itself.<\/p>\n
The NDP believes in the abolition of the Senate as one element of its broader, concrete plans\u00a0for democratic reform in Canada, which includes transformation of the House of Commons through mixed-member proportional representation. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, many believe that the Senate upholds principles like the protection of minority rights and the balance\u00a0of executive power with accountability to the legislative branch of government. These\u00a0are principles that the NDP believes can be upheld through an institution that is much more democratic than the Senate, namely, the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
More and more,\u00a0Canadians\u00a0are coming to agree with the NDP\u00a0that\u00a0the Senate\u00a0should\u00a0be abolished.\u00a0But\u00a0while we are\u00a0on the road to abolition, the NDP\u00a0will also take\u00a0concrete steps to\u00a0make the Senate more functional, fair and accountable.\u00a0In October 2013, the NDP proposed a motion in the House of Commons that would have\u00a0created a less\u00a0partisan and more accountable\u00a0Senate. Unfortunately, Conservatives and Liberals\u00a0joined forces to maintain the status quo by voting down the reform.<\/p>\n
As well, the Auditor\u00a0General\u2019s June 2015\u00a0report included\u00a0several\u00a0recommendations that\u00a0would\u00a0immediately address\u00a0the free-for-all that\u00a0has\u00a0allowed senators to abuse\u00a0the public purse.\u00a0These recommendations included installing an independent body to oversee expenses, a measure the NDP has consistently promoted, for both the Senate and the House.<\/p>\n
Increasingly, Canadians want a long-term solution to\u00a0address the fundamentally undemocratic and illegitimate nature of the Senate, not just a response to its lack of transparency and accountability. This can\u00a0be achieved\u00a0only through Senate abolition.<\/p>\n
Strengthening our democracy requires principles and vision.\u00a0And just because the effort is difficult does not mean that we should accept the permanence of the Senate. Getting rid of this relic from the past is indeed possible, and it starts with a strong mandate\u00a0from Canadians\u00a0on October 19.<\/p>\n
Photo<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>by Matt Jiggins licensed under<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ten years\u00a0after\u00a0promising to fix the Senate and\u00a0put an\u00a0end\u00a0to\u00a0Liberal\u00a0scandal and corruption,\u00a0Stephen Harper\u00a0and his Conservatives have now come to embody everything they opposed until they formed government.\u00a0Instead,\u00a0Harper\u2019s legacy\u00a0on the Senate\u00a0is\u00a0one of broken promises and failed policies.\u00a0His\u00a02006 election\u00a0promise\u00a0never to appoint an unelected senator was broken\u00a0even\u00a0before his first cabinet\u00a0was\u00a0sworn in. \u00a0And his\u00a0Senate reform\u00a0policies sat idle on the floor of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":250738,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T01:02:34Z","apple_news_api_id":"fb9260d4-54fe-430f-9449-2441234369af","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T01:02:34Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A-5Jg1FT-Qw-USSRBI0Nprw","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9358],"tags":[8692],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4250,4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7108],"class_list":["post-263847","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politique","tag-electoral-reform-fr","irpp-category-democratie","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-reforme-electorale"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n