Save the Senate, slash the PMO

Re: “Auditor general zeros in on senators’ housing claims” (Montreal Gazette, June 10)

Because of the “scandals” highlighted by the auditor general’s report on the spending practices of the Senate, debate has been revived concerning the possible abolition of the Senate. This is very unfortunate.

The Westminster system of parliamentary government is the most stable, most democratic form of representative government ever devised by humans. The Senate is an essential, integral element of its incarnation in Canada. While it has become devalued and rather dysfunctional over the years, a functioning Senate acts as a “chamber of sober second thought” where proposed legislation can be considered by men and women with a proven track record of service to the Canadian people, a non-partisan body unfettered by electoral considerations. The Senate needs to be reformed to become, once again, what it once was and what it is meant to be. It must not be abolished.

What is not part of the Westminster system is the Prime Minister’s Office. The PMO is a group of unelected, partisan policy wonks who advise the PM and are paid huge salaries by Canadian taxpayers. In our system, the PM receives advice from his fellow members of Parlia- ment, the cabinet in particular, and the elected and formerly elected members of the Privy Council. The PMO is an aberration. It is expensive, partisan and anti-democratic.

If Canadian democracy is to be restored, the Senate must be reformed and the PMO must be abolished.

Yves Saint-Pierre, Montreal