Appoint senators willing to limit terms
Despite, or perhaps because of, recent assaults on Canada’s democratic institutions, Canadians turned out in near-record numbers to vote in last month’s federal election.
To keep faith, our new prime minister must bring forward an agenda to burnish, not tarnish, the reputation of Canadian democracy.
During the election campaign, Justin Trudeau promised action to replace the first-past-the-post system for electing members of Parliament, and also plans to reform the Senateappointment process with the help of recommendations by a new, nonpartisan committee.
These significant initiatives should not be seen in isolation from each other. There is only one Parliament of Canada and the two primary pieces, the House of Commons and the Senate must fit together.
In 2014, the Supreme Court squashed then-prime minister Stephen Harper’s ideas for unilateral action to impose term limits or explore an elected Senate. Reforms of that magnitude require approval from the provinces. Harper gave up. Instead of reforming the Senate, the public’s focus shifted to more tempo- ral matters, such as whether Senate corruption had migrated inside the Prime Minister’s Office.
Integrating the two parliamentary reforms now proposed by the Liberals clearly requires time to formulate the best path forward.
However, Trudeau has an urgent need to act on the Senate. Of the 105 Senate seats, 22 are vacant. The Conservative caucus numbers 47, with only 29 senators representing the Liberal Party of Canada. The remaining Senate members are independent, or disgraced Conservative appointees.
Having previously expelled Liberal senators from the parliamentary Liberal caucus, Trudeau has, in fact, no official representatives in the Senate. The new prime minister has a shortterm problem — ensuring his legislative agenda can make its way through the Senate to achieve royal consent.
To simply welcome the ex-Liberal senators back in to the fold would be a tragic waste of political capital. To appoint dozens of faithful new Liberal senators would be a betrayal.
Trudeau needs an option to move his legislative agenda forward without near-lifetime appointment for 22 senators. One remedy might be Senateterm pledges. Those wishing to be appointed to the Senate would be asked by the prime minister to proffer a non-binding pledge to serve only for the duration of the 42nd Parliament.
While it would be possible and legal for an appointed senator to ignore such a pledge once given, people worth appointing to the Senate would not shred their own integrity so cheaply.
Of the 29 existing Liberal senators, there are many with vast parliamentary experience. It’s hard to imagine Trudeau not turning to those individuals for help in managing the government’s legislative agenda in the Senate, chairing Senate committees, scheduling votes and the myriad tasks required to pass legislation.
Why not welcome these senators back into the Liberal fold by extending the same offer — caucus membership that requires taking the Senateterm pledge?
There is an urgency and an expectation for reforms to our democratic institutions. What a shame it would be to start the process by restocking the Senate with unelected, untested individuals with sinecures lasting until their 75th birthdays.