Dear Editor,
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent appointment of five new Conservative Senators is another reminder of why the Canadian Senate should be abolished.
An appointment to the Canadian Senate is like winning the cash for life lottery. Senators earn $132,300 a year as a base salary, serve until age 75, and last year sat in the Senate for only 69 days. The total cost for Canadian taxpayers to maintain the Senate in 2008-2009 was $90,232,000.
Senate appointments are given as rewards for past support of the Government party. As a result, the Senate is primarily made up of party bag men, organizers, hacks, and supporters who are there to push through the Government’s legislation.
The Senate is costly, useless, undemocratic, and unaccountable. The Senate is not needed to protect provincial interests which is done by the elected M.P.’s and the provincial governments. Nor do we need an elected Senate in competition with the elected House of Commons. An elected Senate would be a recipe for political gridlock as they have in the United States.
The first step to abolish the Senate would be to hold a national referendum at the same time as the next federal election. If the majority of Canadians voted to abolish the Senate, then it would be up to the federal and provincial governments to amend the Canadian constitution accordingly. It’s time for the outdated, unaccountable, patronage filled Senate to go.
Brian Lynch,
Cornwall
Reminder of why the Canadian Senate should be abolished
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Comments
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- Mona
- - May 18, 2013 at 06:44:29
From what I am seeing,, even the ones that started honest and now becoming dishonest. As far as I am concerned, they are totally useless and the senate should be abolished. The only thing they do well is spend tax payers' money and lots of it! Lets get rid of them and put the money where it will do good for Canadians.
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- Brian
- - February 27, 2013 at 08:25:32
We should have a senate, but, there should only be eleven senators, one per province and one for the arctic. The pay should be one dollar per year plus expenses. This should save the tax payers over 90 million a year.
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- D HOGABOAM
- - February 21, 2013 at 14:10:17
The 90 million we spend a year on the senate could help pay for extra Health care ,help child poverty,use for infrastructure repairs .help pay down the deficit.or many other worthwhile causes.That money spent on the Senate does absolutly nothing for the Canadians or there well being and quality of life.
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- Don Hay
- - February 13, 2013 at 21:50:28
I agree that the Senate should be abolished as it not only costs us 95 mill a year it is useless and serves no purpose other than to say yes to anything your government proposes. A child could do what the Senators do and as a war veteran who fought for freedom ,I object to our taxpayers money being wasted on these outlaws !Make them get a decent job like the rest of us had or have!
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- Rod Hammill
- - February 6, 2012 at 13:26:30
Brian Lynch is correct . The Senate should have been abolished years ago.When the Senate was created on or about 1867, the social network that we have today wasn't even imagined.Today information goes around the world in seconds. Anyone who is not in a coma can't help hearing what laws are being proposed by the government of the day. If the opposition feels a proposed law is downright terrible,it can filibuster until the government makes changes to it.MP's have been known to stage sit ins and other forms of protest. We don't need the Senate in this day and age.It's a leftover relic of the good ol" days when we had money for everything.Now that our healthcare system is broke we no longer can afford the ''country club '' we call the Senate. when the country was't broke. Rod Hammill
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- Alex
- - November 18, 2011 at 16:54:38
Great post although I disagree that it should be abolished completely. An elected senate could certainly serve some essential functions. Do you have a source for the the costs of the senate? I'm writing a paper and can't find a reliable source with this information.
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- Lynn
- - May 1, 2011 at 21:08:06
Hot dog! If we don't get rid of the senate I want to be a senator! 69 days work for $132,000 per year. Absolutely ridiculous and we absolutely do not need the senate.....get rid of it with no perks to those who are ousted! We could do a heck of a lot more with that money like schooling and health care!
