It seems that I couldn’t ignore the siren call of the Senate bat-signal one last time. A group of prominent women want the prime minister to ensure that all 22 current vacancies in the Senate be filled with women in order to quickly achieve gender parity in the upper chamber. Trudeau has already stated that he wants to move the chamber toward gender parity and diverse representation as part of the appointment process (and it does have more women and minorities on a proportional basis than the Commons does), but this would be a bit more strident. It’s not a terrible idea, and one doesn’t really want to get into the “merit” debate because there isn’t a shortage of meritorious women that could fill every one of those seats. That’s not the issue. What I worry about is that it sets up a situation where the demand that it be balanced at all times, so as to start setting gendered seats in each province, and that if there is a retirement or resignation, it becomes imperative that the new holder of that seat be of the gender that is required to maintain balance, despite there being other considerations for some of those seats, such as linguistic minorities, Aboriginals, or other minority communities. Where this would especially be problematic is Quebec, where there are senatorial districts, and it could “lock in” the gender of those districts’ senators, despite the fact that some of those districts were initially established to protect other communities. Meanwhile, David Akin penned an utterly facile column that conflates the Duffy trial with the broader problems of the Senate and somehow comes to the conclusion that constitutional Senate reform is the answer, never mind that he offers no actual vision for what that reform is supposed to accomplish, and he may have missed the memo that elected chambers have spending scandals. All. The. Time. Left unsaid is the fact that the Senate has undergone substantial internal reform and tends largely to be more transparent than the Commons, not that it fits within anyone’s narrative of the “grasping, tawdry circus” of the Senate, when on the whole it is anything but. Seriously, pundit class – reality doesn’t quite reflect your tired received wisdom.

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/679460774213857280

https://twitter.com/emmmacfarlane/status/679461199080075264

Good reads:

• There is data that shows that making refugees immediately pay back government loans can help worsen their overall outcomes.
• Oh, look – the spanking debate is back in full swing!
• Rona Ambrose lays much of the blame for missing and murdered Indigenous women at the feet of male chiefs, who she says aren’t stepping up.
• The Canadian Medical Association wants to give arguments before the Supreme Court hearing in favour of extending the deadline on assisted dying.
• The group behind the Victims of Communism memorial quietly got $300,000 from the former government under a Citizenship and Immigration programme.
• There are demands that the government issue pardons to those who were charged with simple possession of marijuana offences as part of legalization.
• The Federal Court wants the Public Service Commission to reconsider finding two public servants committed fraud when plagiarising on a take-home exam.
• The government plans to extend caregiver leave benefits starts taking effect January 3^rd.
• Here’s an interview with new MP Karen McCrimmon.
• My Loonie Politics column weighs in on the need for a referendum on electoral reform.

Odds and ends:

Not really surprising, but male ministers outnumbered female ones for QP responses, because finance, foreign affairs and defence are all men.

Here’s what is happening to gifts given to the PM from other world leaders.

Here’s a list of satirical gift suggestions for federal politicians.

Programming note: I’m off until the New Year. Enjoy, everyone.