Roundup: A questionable path forward

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Two former senators, Michael Kirby and Hugh Segal, got together to write a report on how they see a move to a more independent Senate should go, and offered a number of suggestions along the way. (They summarise the report in an op-ed here, as does Susan Delacourt in her column here). The highlights of the report are that they feel that the Parliament of Canada Act be amended so that the Senate is no longer dependent on recognized party lines to organise themselves, that they instead be organised into four regional caucuses (Newfoundland and Labrador apparently being lumped in with the Maritime region, and the territories being given a choice as to which region they want to sit with) that would form a “senior council” to decide things like committee selection. They also suggest changes to Senate Question Period, that the absolute veto be self-limited to a six-month suspensive veto, and that the minimum age of 30 be dropped as with the net worth qualification of $4000 (but not property, as it helps to determine residency requirement).

While I will no doubt discuss these recommendations in more depth elsewhere, I will first preface my comments by saying that the Senate Modernisation Committee will have their own report out in a few weeks, and we will likely get a better sense of how things are headed on the ground from there. As for these recommendations, while changes to the Parliament of Canada Act need to happen in order to break the party oligopoly now in place, I fail to see the value-added of regional caucuses. Current committee selection already looks at regional as well as gender balance, so creating a “council” to determine this seems frivolous, and the current seat allocation on committees will rebalance as more unaffiliated senators are appointed and start feeling comfortable enough to take on committee work. I’m not sure that enforcing regional lines is really what the Fathers of Confederation had in mind (as Segal and Kirby keep going back to) because I think it has the potential to create balkanization. Breaking the oligopoly and giving the unaligned senators more of a voice in organization and logistics can happen without needing to completely freeze out parties. The post-2008 excesses were not necessarily the fault of partisanship per se as it was an overly controlling PMO manipulating new senators, who didn’t know any better, to get their way. The suggested changes to Senate QP (like asking questions of committee chairs) make no sense as there is little accountability to be had from them, which is the point of QP. The change to a suspensive veto I am wary of because the point of the Senate is to be able to check the powers of a prime minister with a majority, and saying that the Lords in the UK has been like this since 1911 ignores the history or temperament of that chamber as it differs from our Senate. As for dropping the minimum age, if I had my druthers I would raise it a decade if not two, but if we can’t do that, then leave it as is. We have no need to appoint twentysomethings to be there until age 75. Sorry.

Good reads:

  • Gerald Butts and Katie Telford will repay some of the moving expenses and look at changes in the future, and gods on Olympus, can we stop being such rubes?
  • It turns out that Maryam Monsef was born in Iran, not Afghanistan as she believed all her life. She responds to the issue here.
  • Tony Clement helpfully suggested that Monsef step down from cabinet over this issue, while others suggest that she knew for years.
  • Trudeau and Chinese premier Li Keqiang spoke agriculture deals and exploring a free trade deal, as well as the death penalty complicating an extradition treaty.
  • The fall economic update could see infrastructure spending brought forward to help kick-start the sluggish economy.
  • First Nations are wondering why their promised funds are slow rolling out.
  • Public Safety approved several licences for the RCMP, CSIS and National Defence to acquire signal capturing devices.
  • Senator Sinclair and the head of the AFN are concerned that the demand for a new bilingual Supreme Court justice will rule out an Indigenous candidate.
  • The Canadian Press took their Baloney Meter™ to the Liberal claim that they have invested more in infrastructure than the Conservatives did in the last five years.
  • Chris Alexander says he’s going to enter the leadership race because it’s “uninspiring” so far.
  • Kady O’Malley looks at what questions the opposition have been asking on the Order Paper.

Odds and ends:

Senator Nicole Eaton was apparently named director of an offshore tax haven in the Bahamas by a family friend who never told her. Oops.

Jason Kenney gave his farewell speech in the Commons yesterday.