PM to provinces: ‘ball is in their court’

Moratorium as pressure tactic

Weeks before a federal election campaign, the prime minister is slapping a moratorium on Senate appointments, looking to shore up his party’s position on the file and force provinces into accepting reforms or abolition.

Stephen Harper announced Friday he will not appoint senators to a 105-seat red chamber that already has 22 vacancies as long as the government can continue passing legislation — something he said shouldn’t be a problem for several years.

The prime minister said refusing to appoint senators to the upper chamber will save taxpayers money and hopefully pressure provinces to finally accept significant changes to the Senate.

“They’ve got a chance, the ball is in their court. They can now propose reforms,” Harper told reporters in Regina at a news conference with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who favours abolition.

The PM said Canadians are divided on whether to reform or abolish the Senate, but they will not accept the status quo. Harper said Canadians don’t seem to have noticed he has not appointed a senator for more than two years.

“The membership in the Senate is going to continue to shrink and Canadians are going to ask the question, ‘If you don’t have a program for reform, and we’re not missing the senators, why not just abolish it?’ ”

The Conservatives hold 47 seats in the 105-seat chamber, with the Senate Liberals holding 29 seats.

There are also seven Independent senators.

The Saskatchewan premier — whose government would have liked to see “meaningful reform” such as a Triple E Senate that is elected, equal and effective — believes such reform is unattainable and that the chamber should be abolished.

Canadians are slowly being left with a reality that they’ll have a “Triple U” senate — “unelected, unaccountable and under investigation,” Wall said.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair vows an NDP government would launch negotiations with the provinces to try to kill the Senate. “Harper had 10 years to fix the Senate. He failed,” the NDP said Friday in a news release.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau booted all 32 Liberal senators from the party’s caucus last year and is now calling for a blue-chip advisory panel to recommend qualified, nonpartisan members.

In 2013, the Conservative government sought clarity on Senate reform from the Supreme Court, asking the constitutionality of limiting Senate terms to eight, nine or 10 years; how to go about electing senators; and potential options for abolishing the Senate, among other items.

The Supreme Court slammed the door on that approach, saying Ottawa needs the agreement of seven provinces with half the country’s population to move on even modest reforms like term limits and Senate elections in the provinces. The court said abolition would require the unanimous agreement of

Unelected, unaccountable and under investigation

all provinces, the support of the House of Commons — and backing from the upper chamber itself.

The Supreme Court also said the upper chamber’s powers and number of senators are entrenched in the Constitution, so the Senate can’t be indirectly eliminated by refusing to appoint senators.

Aniz Alani, a Vancouver lawyer who has launched a legal case against the government over Harper’s decision not to appoint senators, has argued that the vacancies violate the Constitution.

“We know in absolute terms that the Governor General is supposed to fill vacancies when they happen,” he said. “We also know from the constitution that it sets out there are supposed to be 105 senators. Not a maximum of 105, but 105.”

The case had been partially hampered by the court’s inability to determine whether Harper had officially decided on a moratorium, Alani said. Friday’s announcement clears up that question.