Horray Hypocrisy

Relevant Link

Well, in the face of having difficulties in passing bills, Stephen Harper decided to pull a Mulroney and stack the senate with partisans (just as a note, Mulroney did this because the Liberals majority in the senate refused to pass the GST bill).  Before the end of the year, 18 new senators will be appointed by Conservative lackies, flying in the face of the throne speech for the failed first session 40th parliament, where Harper pledged senate reform.  Senate reform is something that I strongly agree with, but the way things are going, it will never happen.

Now you might say "well, the Liberals did the exact thing".  Well, I say two wrongs don't make a right.  Paul Martin at least tried to balance his appointments (though two of the "Conservative" appointments he made sat as PC members and refused to join the new Conservative party, and the NDP refused to let the NDP appointee in their caucus).  Simply put, Harper knows his days could be limited, and he needs to exert all the influence he can should a coalition government take his place.  The senate is the ultimate house of cronyism, and in its present form is almost completely useless.

I have always proposed that in lieu of standard elections for senators, that the senate be filled by proportional representation by party.  In a way, this will still lead to appointments, but at least they will be reserved for a particular party.  The senate was meant to balance out the power of densely populated areas, and I think it should stay that way, with the west, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes each getting the same amount of seats.  I think that 30 or so for each area would be appropriate (and maybe 2 for the North).  The senate should be elected every 6 years to give a little bit of stability compared to the House of Commons (6 years is the term for US Senators, just for a reference).  Floor crossing would not be allowed, and any renegade senator would be replaced by their party.

Of course, this is unlikely to be the system that the Conservatives had in mind, but I think it would be a way to balance things out, rather than having appointments be solely up to the Prime Minister.