Boy, for an old Reformer, you remember them, Preston Manning and the plea for a Triple E Senate: Elected, Effective, Equal, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has turned 180 degrees on his view of the Senate.
Susan Delacourt in the Toronto Star today pointed out that when he appoints five new Senators, and he will very, very soonly, he will have appointed one more cash-for-lifer than Jean Chretien. 33 to 32 for those of you keeping score at home.
Additionally Mr. Chretien tended to appoint those near their due date of 75; Mr. Harper is appointing youngish troughers like that Indian dude who is 30 something and Mike Duffy, who just looks 80.
I guess there will be no Triple E in our lifetime.
WFDS
You are wrong Dan, term limits of eight years and agreement with the provinces on electing their Senators will come soon enough with no need for a Constitutional amendment.
ReplyDeleteAnd for those of you who have been whining, bitching, complaining and calling this prorogation of Parliament anti-democratic, your MP's will soon have a chance to vote non confidence in the government soon after the Throne Speech when the next Budget is tabled.
If the opposition has any balls we will be having a General Election in April. That's what we call democracy.
And by the way, where is Iggy?
"I guess there will be no Triple E in our lifetime."
ReplyDeleteDo you WANT a triple E senate??
yeah no shit.... a Liberal condemning anyone for not implementing a Triple E senate doesn't really hold any water.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous #1
ReplyDeleteConservative apologists are amusing when they're idealistic.
You say there will be this sort of stuff, but there hasn't been a single move on the part of the Prime Minister in the entirety of his four years in power. Not a single mention. Nothing. Nada. It isn't in his interest to do it. There is no motivation. I don't think he could care less. His actions certainly haven't shown it.
So the next time you comment, defending the practices of the Harper government, its best if you don't seem like either a raging hypocrite, or an idealistic idiot.
And @ Anonymous #2, if you had a sense, and were nothing but a partisan hack, you would realize that there are Liberals who not only want Senate reform, but condemn the actions of their own party's ineptness on the subject as well. But, that wouldn't fit into your neat little worldview, would it?
They tried to leave them open but after Dion's abstentions, the coalition and now Ignatieff's vacation, it was clear that the Libs would never fill them.
ReplyDeleteA PM who breaks his own rules and "installs" 27 senators is a hypcocrite, liar and can't be trusted. So I would suggest you CONbots, go elsewhere to spout your drivel
ReplyDeleteCAMPBELL CLARK OTTAWA
ReplyDeleteThe Conservative government has accused Liberal senators of mounting an unconstitutional power grab in stalling a bill to limit Senate terms.
The Liberal majority in the Senate is refusing to pass a bill limiting senators' terms to eight years unless the government agrees to refer it to the Supreme Court to determine whether it is constitutional. They say there are doubts about whether the provinces must approve the change.
But Government House Leader Peter Van Loan, seeking to raise the political stakes in the impasse, yesterday accused the unelected senators of trying to usurp powers that belong to the government.
"The actions of unelected, unaccountable Liberal senators represents a dangerous grasp for power that is clearly extraconstitutional," he charged in the Commons.
Mr. Van Loan told reporters later that the cabinet, not the Senate, has the power to refer matters to the Supreme Court. And he said that the Senate's decision to sit on the bill "is a very, very dangerous precedent, because it creates the opportunity for the Senate to pass any government bill, and to compel this kind of reference, which has never been the nature of our Constitution. . . ."
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said the senators have reason to stop the bill because some experts and four premiers have called for the provinces to have a say in changes to the Senate. The Liberals say that senators should have 12- or 15-year terms.
Hey Volkov, try looking up the "Senate Tenure Bill" from May of 2006.
And people wonder why I call some Liberals "Lieberals".