Weekly Commentary - December 13, 2004 - Senators-elect meet with Ralph Klein

Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy

WEEKLY COMMENTARY
"Just Between Us"

December 13, 2004

Senators-elect meet with Ralph Klein

People have been asking me since Alberta's election on November 22, "Well, what about this Senate business? Are you going to push for appointment, or was it all just a $3-million waste of time?"

Good question, but it won't be answered by me. It will be answered by Ralph Klein.

If the premier decides to make democratizing Parliament a high priority, much good may come of this election.

If Albertans can persuade even two or three other provinces to start electing replacement candidates for the Senate, as we do in Alberta when incumbents retire, we could see reform almost immediately.

Most Canadians support this change, and the power of democracy should not be underestimated, even in Canada.

Our pitch to the other provinces will be that if they take the initiative and start holding elections, they will be able to claim permanent ownership of the election process. Thereafter, senators will be answerable to provincial political parties, not national ones.

That would give the premiers considerable influence over the future Senate -- more, in fact, than the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, the pitch to Martin will be that if he appoints only elected replacements, he'll get all the credit for Senate reform without losing personal control of Parliament's upper house during his own term of office.

The transition from appointed to elected senators would take a decade to complete, long after Martin is gone.

During that transition, Canadians can decide if elected senators are better than the old patronage appointees. If they aren't, the policy can be reversed.

The idea of electing federal members to the upper chamber of Parliament seems radical in Canada, but is a matter of course everywhere else. Even hidebound Britain is moving towards democratizing the House of Lords.

Here in Canada we should at least try to keep up with the Ukraine on democratic reform. The problem there is that one man has far too much power. The same problem exists here.

In Canada, the prime minister has the final say over selection of all senators, cabinet ministers, government caucus MPs, superior court judges, the governor-general, and heads of national boards, agencies, corporations and commissions.

We should not be the only modern country with no democratic input into the selection of appellate court judges, with power over issues like homosexual marriage. In other federal systems, judicial nominees are screened by an independent Senate with the power of veto.

Martin can easily brush off Albertans. Liberals always do. But if Albertans are joined by, say, British Columbians, Manitobans, Nova Scotians and Newfoundlanders, what then?

How many Canadians can Martin--or any other prime minister--afford to offend?

So the challenge in the New Year will be to spread Senate reform to other provinces.

To this end, our little caucus of four Senate-electees met with Premier Klein last week. Somewhat to my surprise and much to my delight, the premier exhibited real interest in the cause, and the more he listened, the more enthused he became.

He said it makes little long-term difference whether Martin follows through on his threat to fill Alberta's three vacant Senate seats with patronage appointees right away. The premier said he would "vigorously pursue" the issue anyway.

I hope he does, because he's in a position to do this country a lot of good.

- Link Byfield

Link Byfield is chairman of the Edmonton-based Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy.

"Just Between Us" is a feature service of the Citizens Centre for Freedom and Democracy. The purpose of the Citizens Centre is to enhance freedom and democracy by enabling ordinary citizens to become active and effective on important issues outside the normal processes of party politics.

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