Harper to Senate: Change or die

According to an article published on Canada.com, despite today's 18 Senate appointments, PM Harper is still committed. Electoral reform, including elected and termed Senate position, better happen or it will be the end of the Canadian red chamber.

Stephen Fletcher, the Minister of State for electoral reform, said that he will introduce legislation to implement eight-year term limits for senators, and a process to elect senators, as soon as the budget and economic issues are dealt with by the House of Commons.

He also issued a warning to any parliamentarians planning to block the reforms:

"If we don't get those reforms in a reasonable amount of time we will look to abolish it,'' said Fletcher.

Some, including the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador, argue that such a change to the Senate would require federal and provincial approval (two-thirds of the provincial legislatures, which combined represent at least 50 percent of the national population).

"They cannot in my view even introduce fixed terms without the approval of the provinces,'' said Manitoba Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs . "Both Ontario and Quebec have said they will take them to court over this.''

The Conservatives, however, believe these could be made strictly with federal consent, meaning the Governor General, the House of Commons and the Senate would be the only ones required to vote on the legislation.

The conflict lies in the way we look at the proposed Senate reform. To pass with only federal consent, the changes in the Senate would have to be deemed to only affect the federal government. Some provinces argue that the changes would affect the federal government, but also all of the Canadian provinces.