Canadian Senate Essay

Assignment 3 The Canadian Senate By: Courtney Marie Lester. What role does the Senate play in terms of Canadian democracy, and in light of that role, should the Senate be retained in its current form, reformed in some way, or abolished entirely? The Canadian Senate has often been referred to as the sober second thought. The house of commons was originally set up to have two chambers, the upper and the lower, to carefully decide Canadian laws. The Senate, in the upper house, reviews proposed legislation and ultimately decides whether a bill becomes a law. They are responsible for protecting the interests of Canadians, in all regions, and of all minorities.1 Recently however, there has been a big concern for more accountability. Many
It outlines a lot of undemocratic examples of the role of the senate. The most recent scandal started when conservative senators, Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau were suspended for allegedly fraudulent travel and house expense claims. They were originally caught by the Auditor General of Canada, and although they have paidmost of it back, have rightfully raised a lot of concerns from Canadians. All three have been suspended from the Senate, without pay. Since all three senators were appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and are part of the conservative party, he has been directly linked to the scandal. In fact, Harper’s former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, paid Mike Duffy’s invalid expense claims, giving Duffy nearly $90,000 of his own money to reimbursethe Senate. Harper is taking no responsibility, even after Duffy has publically declared Harper’s involvement in the matter.2 Harper was hoping to quietly dismiss the issue by suspending the three senators and by vaguely repeating himself in saying “We don 't assure Canadians that everything will be perfect. But we do assure Canadians that when anything goes wrong people will be held accountable, the misuse of expense accountsis not appropriate and will be dealt with appropriately. '