The Senate's Fundamental Role

The Senate plays a key role in tandem with the House of Commons, in the operation of Canada’s government, some people think that the Senate should be abolished; however without the Senate, “The right to bear arms” could become true for Canada. The Senate should be reformed; abolishing or keeping the Senate at its current state would be unjust. The current Senate is not elected, effective, nor equal.

The Special Joint Committee of the House of Commons and the Senate was implemented in 1980 in the wake of the Quebec referendum on independence. The goal of the committee was to hear submissions from the public on amendments to the Constitution. In a three-month consultation period, 914 individuals and groups submitted briefs before the committee (Clément, 2015). Hoping to have a direct impact on the Canadian constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, five organizations

branches of government. These are just a few of the duties of our U.S. Congress.

The Canadian Senate’s initial purpose is to review legislative proposals that are sent from the House of Commons, in other words to serve as a chamber of “sober second thought”(Malcolmson,Richard,Gerald,Thomas .138) The Senate is known to have statutory power to defeat, stall or pass bills that are sent from the lower house. The intention behind this function was a response to the democratically elected House of Commons that may possibly fail to respect property rights regarding people of lower and higher classes. The Senate body is designed to protect property rights and to pay attention to

Trudeau’s three-phased Senate reforms give minority group leaders an opportunity to represent their communities. The reforms attempt to shift the focus from gaining support for the Liberal party, to a collection of different and diverse minds within the Senate. The first phase of the reforms focused on the “[removal of] all senators from the national Liberal caucus”, which inherently suggested that “senators [no longer] have formal or organic ties with the Liberal caucus, nor do they have any organizational, financial or other formal responsibilities within the Liberal Party” (Dion, 2015, para. 5). Going from there, the “[creation of] a new, nonpartisan, merit-based, broad and diverse process to advise the prime minister on Senate appointments” was the second item on the agenda (Dion, 2015, para. 6). Finally, the third phase targeted the inclusion of marginalized groups, such as women and minorities, in the Senate (Dion, 2015). Therefore, Trudeau’s appointments are changing the direction of the Senate to include historically-oppressed minorities and their representatives.

The senate is viewed as a reflective body. It is often called the ‘chamber of sober second thought’. The Canadian senate is still one of the only ones in modern democracy not to have undergone senatorial reform. This makes for the Canadian senate to “represent and embody some of the most anti democratic features of representative assemblies” (Docherty pp.27). The senate is the upper house of the parliament. It has 105 seats, distributed as fairly as possible amongst the various provinces. Senators are appointed and this is the major reason for people wanting senatorial reform, however the Canadian senate have

Like I said before, the Canadian Senate is a very important part of Canada. Even though there have been many scandals in the past, it still serves a purpose in the government. They examine legislation and provide any ideas to fix mistakes; they examine bills that have been made by The House of Commons and provide feedback; they also do many other things to help Canada. But, one of the major problems with the Senate is that they are appointed by the prime minister. This is a problem

- However, since 2014, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expelled Liberal senators from the Liberal Party’s caucus which made those senators part of the independent Senate Liberals group. Also, the Prime Minister established an Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments to provide advice on candidates to be appointed to the Senate. Thus, it is necessary to further examine the results of this informal change on the Senate,

Congress. A word that comes with it, feelings of anger, hope and, frustration to most people. The United States Congress was created to represent and govern the citizens of the United States of America. In doing so it has done a remarkable job. The past 200 years of this country proves this. In recent years though, Congress has gained the reputation of being indifferent in creating and passing laws. Many factors come in to effect in supporting this claim. Republican and democratic congressman are constantly fighting over laws and proposals. Each wanting to be loyal to their own party without compromise. There 's also the constant beating of elections (Every 2 years in The House of Representatives, 6

“When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer present or not guilty” (Theodore Roosevelt/Google Images.) The Senate plays an important role in the Canadian government. Canada's Senate today is made up of a variety of backgrounds such as different cultures and religions. It also includes both men and women. The Senate looks at the different issues that individuals or groups might have. They look at the children, veterans, the poor, the elderly and much more. Senators look at issues in more depth. When the House of Commons passes a bill, it must also pass a vote in the Senate before it becomes a law. Canada’s Senate consists of one hundred five politicians,

Since 1867, the parliamentary precinct has been the heart of Canada’s democracy. In parliament, issues of the day are examined, the government is held accountable, and policies and laws are decided upon. After attending a question period and a parliamentary committee meeting, the importance of parliament to Canadian governance became more evident as Canada’s history and future can been seen on Parliament Hill.

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

US House of Representatives vs US Senate The United States Congress is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are many differences between these two pieces of government in order to keep a balance of power. Some of the differences include eligibility requirements, policy jurisdiction and legislative rules. These differences are examined in the following paragraphs.

What role do minor parties and independents play in the senate and how significant are they in our system of government?

Over the years, political power in Canada has been held by older men of Anglo-Celtic or Francophone heritage, rather than by females or members of Canada 's ethnic groups. In fact, the Canadian political sphere is considered a vertical mosaic because different ethnicities, languages, regional groupings, and religious groupings hold unequal status and power. Indeed, the representations of women and minority groups has been unproportioned with respect to their population. Therefore, when there are absences from the decision making process in representation of these aforementioned groups, there is a big concern in respect to the legitimacy of the political system. In fact, a third of Canadians express disappointment in respect to the way