Canadian Politics

Most Canadians know we have a House of Commons and a Senate. Ask someone about the House of Commons you’ll get an answer for example: home of the spin doctors, say anything to get elected, you probably have your own less flattering description. But at least we elect them.

How did we end up with a second level of Government that are not required to be elected? Well back in the 1860’s when the Canadian colonies negotiated Confederation the primary worry was that the participation of “regular citizens” would be detrimental to good government. Having witnessed the behavior of the Members of Parliament over the last few years it appears that there was reason for concern.

The Fathers of Confederation decided to provide an appointed body ( the Senate) which would exercise sober second thought. The Senate was to comprise of economic and social elite. They would act as a check on the commoners or lower classes in the House of Commons. Gee the more things change the more they stay the same. Now the MP’s we elect think the voters are commoners.

There are 105 sears in the Senate the base pay is 130,500. The tax payers pay $13,920,000.00 a year in Senators base salaries. That doesn’t count additional pay for additional responsibilities which increases their pay or perks like car allowance.

So what to do? Currently the Prime Minister gets to appoint people to the Senate. I guess if you give to the cause or have botox injected lips you could get a $130,000 a year gift.

How can we change it? What if we hold a lottery? There are 105 seats, so we could hold a draw for 21 seats every 5 years. We’ll need qualifications right! Ok you need a high school diploma and be between 30 and 70 years old.

Now we will need some skill testing questions here are just a few possibilities:

Name a Prime Minister not born in Canada.

Name a Prime Minister that was in frequent contact with his deceased mother, relatives and friends.

Name a Prime Minister who declared war on a Canadian Province.

Name 2 candidates who ran in your riding in the last Federal election. ( Oct 2008)

Name the Prime Minister who won the Nobel Peace Prize.

After you pass the skill testing questions then comes the hard part for example can you sleep sitting up for long periods of time. Can you wake up and ask in depth or any questions. Can you take vacations to a warm countries in the winter time and call them trade missions. If you can do all this and more on tax payers expense then you might be a Senator.