January 7, 2004

The Honourable Ralph Klein
Premier of Alberta
307 Legislature Building
10800 – 97 Avenue
EDMONTON, Alberta
T5K 2B6

Dear Premier Klein,

The Premiers and territorial leaders are to be congratulated on forming the new Council of the Federation. Intergovernmental dialogue will be improved by this mechanism for reaching consensus on provincial issues on a regular basis, and presenting this consensus to the Prime Minister. Coordinated and rationally supported initiatives by the provincial and territorial leaders will have a real potential for influencing federal policies.

But while the new Council of the Federation is a most welcome development, the Triple E Senate Committee believes that effective provincial input into federal policies and programs must occur on a daily and continuous basis. The Senate of Canada is the only structure in Canada’s parliamentary system (other than the Commons itself) that has the formal constitutional power to amend, delay or even reject the ideas of policy and law that emanate from the Prime Minister’s office.

Why Change the Senate Appointment Process Now?

A new government in its first months in power has an unusual opportunity to accomplish real change. Our new Prime Minister has said that Senate Reform is possible if provincial and territorial leaders can agree on an alternate selection process, and we believe that this offer represents a “once in 137 years” opportunity that should be seized immediately. It would allow us to rectify a fundamental flaw in Canada’s parliamentary system that every school child knows about and despises, a flaw that belies the reality of our otherwise democratic society.

Patronage appointments to Canada’s Senate play a large part in the creation of political cynicism and political alienation in this country; it sends an unfortunate message to other countries and to our own citizens that one half of the national Parliament serves primarily to allow the Prime Minister of the day to reward personal and partisan loyalty. Replacing this with a fair, open and democratic process, one that is in tune with current values and principles, would send a dramatic message to Canadians that the country’s current political leaders are capable of making meaningful changes to the country’s political institutions that serve the interests of all Canadians and that better reflect what this country has become. We have an opportunity for a simple modification in political practice that could become one of the most important symbolic democratic acts in the country’s history.

Past attempts to reform the Senate have failed by striving for the perfect solution instead of a possible one. Meech Lake failed because it focused on the concerns of a single province. Charlottetown failed by attempting to meet all of Canada’s constitutional grievances in a single amendment, creating a package so large that most people could find something to fear. Prime Minister Martin has opened the door to a small change in the Senate with the potential for gradual but substantial improvement in the way Ottawa deals with the rest of the country.

No constitutional amendment is required for provinces and territories to have a meaningful role in the selection of future Senators. A change in the appointment procedure will not in itself rectify the representation issue – the question of how many Senators should represent a province. Nor will it necessarily ensure that all future Senate appointments are of candidates who have been directly approved by the voters of the province, the most purely democratic process. But opening up the process would rectify a fundamental flaw in Canada’s parliamentary system. It would replace a universally ridiculed patronage process with a more democratic means of appointing qualified people to the Senate, and it would simultaneously move us toward a Senate that could reflect and debate regional concerns within the national policy process.

What Can All Provinces and the Federal Government Agree Upon?

Any new method of appointing Senators must be directly related to the purposes for changing those procedures. The primary reasons for seeking change are:

1. to improve Canada’s democracy by eliminating a fundamental flaw in Canada’s parliamentary system in the form of an upper chamber nakedly based on political patronage;
2. to improve the operation of Canada’s federalism by providing greater provincial and territorial input into national decision making;
3. to demonstrate to Canadians that Canada’s political leadership – national, provincial, and territorial -- is capable of initiating meaningful change; and
4. to reduce the level of political cynicism and alienation among Canadians.

These objectives do not require a formal constitutional amendment. They can be achieved by a simple agreement that the elected representatives of each province will pass legislation detailing an open and legitimate method of recommending appointments to the Senate from their province/territory; and that the federal government will make its appointments from the names that are generated by this process. In the case of Alberta, such legislation already exists and the legislature has indicated that Senate nominees from that province will be elected on the basis of a province wide vote. Other provinces or territorial legislatures might very well pass similar legislation given some assurance that Ottawa would honor it. Some provinces or territories may decide upon other methods, such as the election of nominees by the legislative assembly or by a committee of prominent citizens. The key principle is that the nomination be made by a group of people that legitimately represent the province as a whole, not by an individual, and that it be done in a fashion that visibly serves the public purpose .

One of the criticism of the Alberta Senate Nominee election process is that Senate appointments are made until age 75, not for a specific period of time, and therefore once elected a person may choose not to resign their Senate position at the end of the specified period. This is, of course, the problem with piece-meal reform, but it is not reason enough to miss a rare opportunity for significant and useful institutional reform. Nor is it particularly likely; the visible hypocrisy of campaigning to be part of a “new Senate” and then retreating behind one of the more objectionable features of the “old Senate” would attract more criticism and scorn than most public figures would welcome.

A “Once in 137 Years” Opportunity

Canadians have been talking about Senate reform since 1867, but they have nothing to show for their efforts. 2004 offers Canadian political leaders with an opportunity to do something significant to breath new life into a parliamentary institution that has been hamstrung for the entire life of our nation by a patronage selection process. Clearly simply changing the selection process will not rectify all of the problems of our federal system. It is, nonetheless, the single greatest opportunity to begin a process of change that could reinvigorate people’s belief in the political process in Canada.

Sincerely,

Bert Brown, National Chairman
Canadian Committee
For a Triple E Senate

Cc: Premiers and Territorial Leaders of Canada
Prime Minister of Canada
Leader of the Official Opposition