Amending The Senate - Bill C-43

The text of Bill C-43 is available on the Parliamentary website.

I have only given it a superficial reading at this time, but there are several things of note.

First, there is nothing that appears to make the outcome of the "consultation" binding upon either the Prime Minister (who traditionally recommends people to the Governor General for the Senate), or the Governor General.

Second, unless the referenced sections of the Canada Elections Act stipulate what is to be done with the results of a "consultation", it is not clear just to whom the results are reported. (For all we know, they could wind up in the trash bin the next morning)

One point that is very interesting is that the "eligibility to be a candidate" criteria are a limited subset of the criteria in the Constitution (paragraph 23), which in many respects could render a number of "successful candidates" invalid at appointment time. Of course, this gives a sitting Prime Minister an excuse to ignore the results by simply declaring someone "unsuitable" to sit in the Senate.

This is either an oversight, or an attempt on the part of Stephen Harper to undermine the Constitution of this country through legislation.

The majority of the bill is focused on the mechanics of conducting a "consultation", and appears to attempt to define it as a variation on proportional representation vote.

Fundamentally, this to "reform" of the Senate as putting new draperies up in a house is "renovating".