The federal government is on course for change with its Senate Reform Act, according to a local senator.
Bert Brown, currently the country’s only senator, is once again leading the charge. In addition, the Balzac farmer is only the second elected senator in the upper chamber’s long history.
“We’re doing this for the next century, not just to amuse ourselves,” said Brown, 73.
Brown won all three senatorial elections in which he ran. In 1989, he won his first election under the banner of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, the same party he was victorious with in 2004. In 1998, he was also victorious with Preston Manning’s Reform Party. His victories, however, were ignored by prime ministers Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. Stephen Harper finally appointed him to the Senate on July 10, 2007.
Brown has advocated for a Triple-E Senate — elected, effective and equal — for the last 29 years and said with Harper’s majority government, the Red Chamber is going to change.
Currently, senators are appointed, not elected, can begin serving at age 30 and must retire at 75 with no term limits.
The Conservative government is looking to chop that potential 45-year term down to a single, non-renewable nine-year term.
“I think the idea is that people want to see it extend beyond two terms of the prime minister,” said Wild Rose MP Blake Richards. “We’re looking at steps we can take now with substantial changes without opening the Constitution.”
Brown agrees and believes change can be achieved with little acrimony.
“We have a bill that will pass through the (House of) Commons and the Senate because there’s a majority,” said Brown. “I’m the world’s biggest optimist when it comes to Senate reform.”
Richards said Senate reform is needed to turn the upper house into a functioning governing body.
“In a lot of people’s minds, I think they see it lacking a bit of legitimacy,” said Richards. “I think we could see the Senate reformed to serve the purpose it’s meant to serve.”
There are, however, dissenting voices suggesting little to no change will be achieved with the new bill.
“We’ve been talking about reform since the Senate was created,” said Duane Bratt, political scientist at Mount Royal University. “It’s like talking about the weather. We talk a lot about it, but nothing changes.”
Bratt said the Senate is filled with political hacks and believes the Conservatives’ current reform plan is worse than “doing nothing.”
Electing senators will be problematic since appointed senators will still serve and a two-tiered Senate will emerge, according to Bratt.
In addition, Bratt said it would take a constitutional amendment with unanimous support from all 10 provinces in order to fully reform a true Triple-E Senate.
