If There is a Referendum, I Will Vote to Abolish the Senate

There is a lot of discussion about Stephen Harper's plans to reform the Senate, by placing term limits of nine years, but only on those appointed after 2008.

Most of the opposition is coming from Harper's own senate appointments, many of whom have been rejected by the electorate, so would have difficulty finding such a cushy job, not to mention a pension for life.

Harper's other plan of an elected senate, would require a referendum, but even his current tweaking, demands a consensus from the provinces.

Being a Senator use to mean something in Canada, but the Senate is now just a $100 million a year drain on tax dollars, as a home for Harper flunkies.

They used to be there to protect us from someone like Stephen Harper, now they only protect him from people like us.

A three year study on poverty in Canada by the Liberal dominated senate, with vital input from Conservative senators, was presented to Stephen Harper. He gave it a glance then threw it in the trash.

The Parliament debated and passed a climate change bill. The Conservative dominated Senate gave it a glance, then threw it in the trash.

And any Senate bills that might help Canadians or make government more accountable, never have a chance. Even if they could get enough support from Conservative senators, the Harperites have found a way to make sure they never see the light of day.

In 2009, the Canadian Press learned of the tactic they used to hijack senate bills.

Normally, the author of a Senate private member's bill arranges to have a sympathetic MP sponsor it once it clears the upper house and arrives in the Commons. The sponsor informs the clerk's office that he or she will take responsibility for shepherding the bill through the Commons. But last month, Tory MPs began rushing to the clerk's office to sponsor bills almost the moment they were introduced in the upper house, whether or not they actually supported the bills and without waiting to see if they'd actually ever make it to the Commons.

A bill automatically dies if its sponsor fails to show up twice for debate on it. The Harperites who rush to sponsor the bill, make sure that they never show up to debate, stopping it in its tracks.

Ralph Goodale said the latest ploy is "an effort to muzzle a house of Parliament," and part of the government's continuing "vendetta" against the Senate. He said it's particularly hypocritical given the Tories' denunciations of the unelected chamber as an affront to democracy. "What they're basically saying is these topics (in the senators' bills) will not be debated. So it is very clearly the stifling of free speech."

It has just become another body that Harper can control at his whim.

A senator, especially a Conservative senator, is nothing more than a high priced bench warmer.

I did get my own back on one of them though. Senator Hugh Segal lives in Kingston, but we only hear from him when there's going to be an election. Like Wiarton Willie, if we see Segal's shadow, we know we're going to the polls.

When Stephen Harper was in Kingston, protesters were treated like criminals, kept behind imaginary lines and vivid barbed wire.

I was there, and when it was over made my way to the restaurant to use the bathroom and phone my husband. The door I normally used was locked, but I spotted Segal coming out the side door.

I approached him, and with all the innocence I could muster, asked him if he worked there, and could he let me in. He bent his head slightly, perhaps thinking I hadn't recognized him, and "feared" that I might ask for his autograph. I knew who he was, but it felt good to pretend I didn't.

He's done nothing to earn my respect, and that's something I don't hand out for free.

So if there is a referendum, I will be voting to abolish the Senate. It no longer has a legitimate function.

What are You Doing June 10? Come to the Conservative Convention

There is a rally planned to Beat Back The Tory Attack - June 10th in Ottawa

I believe Brigette DePape is attending as she appears on the video. What a remarkable young woman.

Inspired by the Arab Springs, she is generating a desire for change.

Remember that another young woman, Asmaa Mahfouz, who posted a video on Facebook, sparked the protests in Egypt, when she encouraged others to meet her in Tahir Square. The power of one.

And another young woman in the video below speaks passionately about her country and what that protest meant for her.

She wears a navy blue shirt that says, "I love my country. It's the government I'm afraid of." She speaks passionately about what she wants and why she's protesting.

More power of one.

The senate, in response to DePape's protest, is now pondering tighter controls and more intensive background checks for pages. How ridiculous. She did not have a bomb and her background is a Canadian who loves her country.

Maybe some of these senators who are under Harper's control could learn something about democracy.

Another Harper Lie? Say it Ain't So

Stephen Harper has claimed that his stacking of the Senate with his own hallelujah chorus, was so he could push through senate reform.

But someone forgot to mention it to the mostly hyper-partisan crew.

Turns out they like it right where they are. They don't have to do a thing, but obey commands.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a majority in the Senate but he may not have the numbers to push through the reforms he planned for the Red Chamber, Postmedia News has learned. That, say sources, is the real reason the government is showing signs it is willing to compromise by extending its proposed term limits for senators from eight years to 10 or 12, and promising a full study on the election of senators rather than the quick passage of its Senate reform package bills.

Harper appointed more than 30 Conservative senators to the upper house in the last 2 1/2 years — precisely, he said, so he could pass his Senate reform agenda. But, during that time, some senators have publicly and privately suggested they've changed their minds and no longer support Harper's plan to establish provincial senate elections and impose eight-year term limits.

I mean who would vote for these clowns?

In fact many have run for election and were rejected.

Just another day in Harperland.

Canadians Now Fine With Abolishing the Senate

A new poll conducted by Harris-Decima reveals that the majority of Canadians would be receptive to opening the constitution, to abolish the Senate.

Time limits or elections are not the answer.

Senators now have no function. The only time we ever see Hugh Segal in Kingston, is when there's an election.

Then he goes back into hiding, collecting an enormous salary for doing nothing other than propping up the Harper government.

Enough is enough.

A Little Senate History and a Little Senate Reality Check

Stephen Harper is taking a lot of heat over his latest senate appointments and re-appointments. Some are calling it historic and Kady O-Malley has a brilliant posting on Sir John A. and his identical move.

CTV quotes two premiers who question Harper's move, but a comment by Craig Oliver has me fuming:

Craig Oliver, CTV's chief political correspondent, said the move follows a long Liberal tradition of stacking the Senate with party loyalists. However, he said the main difference is that the Conservatives have long argued against Senate appointments being used as political prizes for party supporters.

OK. With all due respect, I know it's important to explain away everything Harper does by suggesting that the Liberals did it first, but that's just lazy journalism.

So if there is anyone reading this who is in the media, listen up. That will no longer fly. If Kady can find century old stories to show that Harper wasn't the first to spit in the face of democracy, appointing senators already rejected by Canadians, I'll fill you in on a bit of senate history.

As to appointing flunkies, you don't have to go back to Sir John A.

Brian Mulroney added senate seats to get his GST passed, but also used the upper chamber as a lottery to the faithful.

Marjorie LeBreton, now Leader of the Government in the Canadian Senate, played the role of kingmaker, a job formerly handled by Peter White, who went back to work for Conrad Black.

Marjory LeBreton took over the unofficial patronage portfolio after Peter White's departure ... LeBreton dealt with dozens of demands and requests, particularly when Senate seats became available. Seven prominent Tories explicitly asked for appointments: .. "I had John Reynolds on the phone lobbying for a Senate seat for himself, and giving me this pitch that it should be someone that could go on the talk shows. I said, "Gee, John, I haven't noticed you being out there." (1)

And in another bit of history, as two of Harper senators could face jail time for their roles in the "in and out" scandal, two of Mulroney's senators also got into hot water.

That has left most Canadians with another indelible image: that of another Tory senator led from court in handcuffs - only to return to a Senate seat, pending appeal. Both Berntson, 57, and Senator Michel Cogger*, 60, who was convicted last July of influence peddling, showed up unexpectedly for Senate duties on Wednesday. They sat side by side in an isolated corner of the upper chamber while catcalls of "shame" came from Reformers and New Democrats in the nearby House of Commons. (2)

And Paul Martin appointed two conservative senators: Hugh Segal and Nancy Ruth.

So these attacks against anyone or anything Liberal, are getting old.

Jack Layton still likes to throw around Adscam, and just being Liberal links you to the scandal. He'd best be careful, because his dad was in Brian Mulroney's cabinet and I doubt he'd like it if he got linked to Mulroney's cronyism.

It's time the media started to judge Stephen Harper on his own. He's had five years to show us how he will run things, and his latest actions are only part of a very long list of political crimes.

Time to hold him to account.

Sources:

1. The Secret Mulroney Tapes: Unguarded Confessions of a Prime Minister, By Peter C. Newman, Clandebye Ltd., 2005, ISBN: 10-0-679-31351-6, Pg. 418

2. Saskandal, By: Robert Shephard, MacLeans, March 29, 1999

The Problem With the Senate is Not That They are Unelected But That They Have Been Enfeebled

Stephen Harper appointed two more crony senators this week, giving him an absolute majority in the Upper Chamber. The place that is to be the sober second thought. The group paid to protect Canadians from arbitrary decisions made in the House of Commons.

All of the talk in the media is about yet another "flip flop". Harper's Reform Party had promoted an elected senate and denounced it's stacking by the government of the day.

But most are missing the point.

This Senate is no longer a sober anything. They are drunk with power and are simply there to function as a big rubber stamp for neoconservatism.

We saw it with the Climate Change bill, hashed out in the House by our elected representatives. On order from Herr Harper they rubber stamped it 'denied'. No debate in the Red Chamber, just a chuckle and a smirk and wham bam thank you ma'am. It was gone.

And all of the posturing by Harper on limiting terms to eight years, and how these holders of the rubber stamps have agreed to it, is nonsense. Because for eight years it means that despite the government of the day, neoconservatism will prevail, because these guys now have all the power.

All of it. And they are beholden to one person and one person only. Stephen Harper.

I don't think electing senators is the answer. We can't get people voting now. What we need to do though, is remove this function from the prime minister. Any prime minister.

The Senate needs to be appointed by an independent body, and failing that, abolished completely.

Because my friends, it is NOT democracy, when a group of people not held to account by the citizens of the country, have ALL the power over those citizens. And is is NOT democracy when one person controls it all.

It renders the House of Commons obsolete, meaning that our votes are mere scraps of paper.