Senate reform has always been a big plank in the Reform / Alliance platform, and it looks like this week the Harper government plans to do something about it:

The Conservative government will move to impose term limits on new, unelected senators, CTV News has learned.

The changes will be included in a wider package of democratic reforms, such as fixed terms for federal elections.

Currently, Senators can sit until age 75, although until 1965, their appointments were for life. Under the Conservative proposal expected Tuesday, that will be restricted to eight years.

The prime minister appoints senators. Alberta and B.C. have legislation to hold elections for senators, although the previous Liberal government did not appoint the senators-elect.

True, it’s not the same as an elected Senate, and there’s still the issue of what should be done with the old farts that are already there. But it’s a step in the right direction.

There are those who think that this will require a constitutional amendment, but I wouldn’t be so sure. Originally a Senator held that position for life, but that was amended by a 1965 statute. It’s only the length of tenure that’s affected, not the proportionality of representation nor the qualifications, which would justify provincial consultation.

And frankly I don’t think the provincial governments would give an argument against the idea of term limits for the Senate, since they care more about how a Senator is chosen than how long that appointed ass occupies a seat in the Upper Chamber.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 00:00 and is filed under Parliament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.