Brad Wall’s government is set to introduce a constitutional amendment into the Saskatchewan legislature this October calling for the abolition of the Canadian Senate.
The Saskatchewan government is anticipating that the Supreme Court of Canada will rule later this year that any constitutional amendments will require the support of at least seven provinces, containing 50% of the population.
“Hopefully, this will get the ball rolling with the other provinces. We’re committed to this and the Premier wants to take a national leadership role,” said a senior government official.
He said the Premier will try to sell the idea when the provinces meet in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., for the Council of the Federation next week. Mr. Wall has long argued that the premiers are better placed to represent the provinces than party loyalists sitting in the Senate.
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The official said the expectation is that the government of British Columbia will follow Saskatchewan’s move, and there are hopes that NDP governments in Manitoba and Nova Scotia would also initiate their own legislation. He said even the Parti Québécois government of Pauline Marois has no love for the Senate. However, the new Ontario Premier, Kathleen Wynne, has recently reversed the long-standing position of her predecessor, Dalton McGuinty, who favoured abolition, by saying she believes reform is possible.
Ben Chin, director of communications for B.C. Premier Christy Clark, said B.C. is “sympathetic to Premier Wall’s idea of abolition but is also open to the idea the Senate can be fixed.” Any constitutional changes in B.C. would have to be submitted to a referendum.
Frank Gunn/CP
Frank Gunn/CPSome premiers, like Ontario's Kathleen Wynne, would prefer to reform the Senate rather than abolish it.
The move to abolish the Senate gained impetus for the Saskatchewan government after a recent referendum of members of the governing Saskatchewan Party revealed 86% support abolition. Just six months ago, prior to the recent Senate expenses scandal, the party had resisted Mr. Wall’s call to change its position in favour of abolition. “The base is really, really mad,” said the official. A recent Nanos Research poll suggested 49% of Canadians want the Senate to be reformed, 41% believe it should be abolished and only 6% are in favour of the status quo.
If the Supreme Court does rule that changes to the Senate would require the “7/50” amending formula, six other provinces would have to pass similar motions to the one being introduced by the Saskatchewan government.
An abolition amendment would also have to be passed by the House of Commons and the Senate itself. The Harper government has asked the court to give guidance on whether Parliament can on its own impose elections, term limits or even abolition.
Sources suggest the Prime Minister is coming around to the idea that his government should push abolition, if the court says any changes require provincial approval. The concern in Ottawa is that the forthcoming Auditor General’s audit of all Senate expenses is likely to reveal widespread abuse and leave the government in the cross-hairs of criticism from the opposition parties, particularly the NDP, which is in favour of abolition. One senior Conservative MP said privately this week that the government cannot risk being seen as the defender of the status quo.
Some academics, like the University of Waterloo’s Emmett Macfarlane, have suggested any attempts to abolish the Senate are “fanciful” since they major constitutional changes require unanimous consent of the provinces and support is unlikely to be forthcoming from Maritime provinces that are over-represented in the Upper Chamber.
National Post