Senate Scandal Analysis

If the Senate is kept at its current state, it will continue to operate fine, however the Senate can be much more effective at what it does if it gets amended. Currently the Senate is not elected, equal, nor efficient. People who comprise the Senate are selected by the governor general on the advice of the Prime Minister, so those selected most likely will act in good intention towards the Prime Minister. The Senate, unlike the House was designed to represent Canada’s regions, however it over-represents some provinces at the expense of others. For example currently, Quebec and Ontario each have 24 seats, the same amount of seats as the four Western provinces as a whole. Atlantic Canada, with a mere 7% of the population, holds a unproportional 29% of the seats. Canadians deserve laws that are fair and free of errors, and the Senate contributes to that. The Senate’s job is to foster national unity, however currently they act in the interest of themselves and the Prime Minister rather than in the interest of the people.

Many modern democracies have a bicameral legislature which is a body of government that consist of two legislative chambers. The bicameral legislature provides representation for both, the citizens of the country and the state legislature on a federal level. The Canadian parliament has two chambers, the lower chamber which is an elected House of Commons and the upper chamber which is the non-elected Senate. The Canadian Senate is assumed to be a “sober second thought” [3] on government legislation which is a phrase that describes the Senate’s role in promoting and defending regional interest. There has been an immense amount of the public outcry regarding the Senate after spending scandal that occurred during the recent election period. A question that has induced discussion in parliament is whether the Canadian Senate should be reformed or not? This issue divides the population in half because of differing views. Some political parties want the abolition of the Senate to occur while other parties would like to have an elected Senate because provinces are not represented equally. A method of deciding the faith of the current Senate, the functions of the Senate and objectives of Senate reform should be defined. The assumptions about the purpose of the Senate, problems of the current Senate, the goal of Senate reform and the method of achieving the reform may help provide a consensus on how the Senate should be reformed.

The original purpose of the senate was two-fold, firstly they were meant to add some degree of regional representation to the debate. The one-hundred and five senators are separated into regions with a set number coming from each of the regions of the country. Secondly, the senate was meant to be in the words of Sir John a Macdonald “a chamber for a sober second thought” , that is to say that it provides a second opinion on bills and any other legislation that has passed through the house of commons. The modern senate however does not fulfill these two functions adequately anymore, instead the regional distribution is not done equally, so there are areas that are very over represented and others such as British Columbia that are woefully under represented . And the sober second thought that the senate is meant to offer is instead turning into a more symbolic confirmation similar to the royal assent that the Governor General gives in the name of the Queen. This second issue happens because the senate lacks the legitimacy of the house of commons because they are not elected. In modern times the public is weary of a body of un elected officials affecting the legislation of their chosen elected officials. Now to effectively reform the senate there are three main areas that will need to change namely the distribution of seats, the way in which senators are chosen, and the affiliations of the senators themselves. Firstly, the original purpose of regional representation in the senate was to counteract the representation by population in the house of commons. This helped to ensure that French speaking Quebecois, and the western provinces were not marginalized by the English speaking majority and the power of Ontario in national policy making. The distribution of the seats is done as follows, first the country was split into four regions the Maritimes,

Fred Cutler and Matthew Mendelsohn’s article “Unnatural Loyalists or Naive Collaborationists? The governments and Citizens of Canadian Federalism”, delved into a compelling analysis of Canadian citizens and federalism. In a country of much diversity, as discussed in lecture, it is difficult for citizens to hold the ‘right’ government accountable because of the blame shifting each level of government does. To give an illustration, this article briefly touches upon the propaganda the provincial and federal government use to shift blame on one another for policies such as healthcare and education. However Cutler and Mendelsohn go one step further and analyze if Canadian citizens are able to judge policies without allowing their provincial status

Congressional members are influenced by their subjective experiences as well as their intellectual and psychological dispositions in dealing with the variability of global politics. Foreign policies, such as declarations of war, are conceived with the intent to defend congressional interests to protect the powers of Congress. Senators and Representatives frequently determine their stance on an issue by determining how it would impact their appointment to higher office, chances for reelection, and improving their influence and legacy. Once Members of Congress have established their interests, the United States Constitution provides the framework of how Congressional interests are conveyed into laws. The lawmaking process, however, may be a tedious

The recent 2015 federal election saw a dramatic change in the Canadian political landscape. The Conservative party, the governing party of Canada for the past decade, was thoroughly defeated with the Liberals, who had, in relation to seats, been in third place, gaining a majority and subsequently forming government. The reasons for this defeat are examined in the editorial: Why the Conservatives lost, and how they can win again.

In Wisconsin our two senators are Tammy Baldwin serving for a little over three years and still serving, and Ron Johnson serving for 5 years and still serving. We chose to write about Ron, because he seemed the most interesting and reliable to our state. This paper will discuss the topics of

Most of the reading focuses on two subjects: the difference between presidents and lower level legislators, and the presidents’ motivation and thoughts. The discussion of lower level legislators is left at the idea they tend to focus on their select group of people, and helping mainly them,

Today, Ontario and Quebec have maintained their 24 member senatorial status. The four Western provinces have 6 members each. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both have 10 seats. Prince Edward Island was given 4 out of the original 24 Maritime senators. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador have a total of 6 members. Finally, Nunavut, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories stand in the equation with 1 senator apiece. Along with the Senate`s original intentions, the principle of equality between the provinces is evidently lost. The Senate primarily fails because it was formerly created to balance out the representation by population which lies in the House of Commons however currently only seems to reinforce it. In fact, Canada’s central provinces, Ontario and Quebec, account for 60 percent of the seats in the House of Commons and almost half of the seats in the Senate at 46 percent.5 The inadequacy of regional representation is emphasized as the Canada West Foundation clearly states: “Canada is the only democratic federal system in the world in which the regions with the largest populations dominate both houses of the national legislature.“6 With an unelected Senate that no longer fulfills its role of equal regional representation and a House of Commons grounded on the representation of provinces proportional to their population, the legitimacy of Parliament has become a

The names of the authors that wrote an article titled Candidates and Policy in the United States Senate Elections are Gerald C. Wright and Michael B. Berkman. Although the previous literature on the subject suggests, that policy is not a major factor in the decision-making process, the article argued otherwise.

Latraverse writes about the promise made by the Conservative party without taking any position. She describes the promise and provides the opinion of the leaders of the other parties. The promise received negative comments from not only the other leaders but also the Canadian population. The author uses the opinion of other leader to proclaim the negative side of the legislation. This source provides an explanation of the proposition and the opinion of other leaders. Since the Liberals make a majority government, the Conservatives need the support of other parties for passing this legislation therefore the need of knowing the opinion of others. This source is relevant to my essay because it describes the promise made by Stephen Harper.

Through these portrayals of MPs experiences, good and bad it initiates Canadians to think about how power hungry political parties have become. Through strong partisanship, and the costs it has on citizen’s representation and thoughts against government and politics. As well brings into reality how hard it is to influence policy and how they are this is hierarchy of unequal powers in the legislative government, where the prime minster has more author than MPs in the realm of policy making. Altogether, this all just reflects how some MPs see themselves as actors; they just fill the spots and do as they are

It is vital to recognize what prompted the extraordinary shift in Canadian politics bringing about a Conservative predominance in recent years. The strength of this campaign was minimal until a new coalition was formed between the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. This reform led to an election, which Stephen Harper won by a majority vote and was named leader of the new party. They felt that this was their only chance at ending the long run by the Liberals referred to as the Laurentian Consensus, a group of political elites. These elitists were located in major urban areas such as Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal whom controlled the course of this nation. They would debate issues, reach an agreement, and then implement it with little regards to voters (Ibbitson, 2011). They had opposite views of the conservatives and valued

Until recent years, Ontario was not included under the definition of a region, as we covered in Professor Ellison’s lecture on January 21st, 2015. Historically, the needs of the province were aligned with those of the country as a whole, making its identity difficult to distinguish (Intro, 2013 & Old Habits, 2013). As a result, Ontario has never had to declare its voice as a separate entity from that of the government’s, leaving the province in an unfamiliar situation when the political and economic landscape of the country shifted. This analysis will examine two chapters on this subject in Shifting Power: The New

Nonetheless, Ignatieff's political career should be classified as being a far cry from a failure. Mr. Ignatieff's political career was far more successful than that of most other Canadian politicians. It is a shame that the most noteworthy part of his career happens to be his tremendous loss in the 2011 federal election. It is also unfortunate that Ignatieff will go down in history as "Michael Ignatieff...just visiting" as a result of an attack ad. This was where Ignatieff truly failed. He failed to achieve the image Canadian's expect of their Prime Minister. Instead, he ended up being illustrated as an outsider who only returned to Canada to seek election for his own personal interest.