By Tonda MacCharles
Ottawa is now unable to act by itself to be able to reform the Senate or limit terms/appoint elected senators. To do so they must first have the consent of seven provinces, encompassing half the country's population, this has been set in place by the Supreme Court of Canada last Friday. To abolish the Senate completely their must be unanimous consent with all federal Parliament and all provinces, including the countries top court. This marks a monumental defeat for our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, as the high court dismissed almost every single argument he and his lawyers had brought forward, and these new regulations have been set in place.
I feel that these regulations are too extreme and that it shouldn't take the approval of seven provinces to simply limit terms of Senators, or reform the Senate. I believe that if at least three provinces outside of Ontario feel that the term should be limited, or a reformation is necessary, that that is enough. Going through seven whole provinces there is generally going to be one to disagree, and to not be able to make the change that is needed due to one of seven provinces I find a bit silly. Three outside of Ontario should be enough, four in total. As for the abolishing of the Senate regulation I do believe these are fair and the correct regulations for such a powerful act. Abolishing the Senate is an extreme act and it is only fair that it must be approved by everyone it affects, which it is by including every province, all federal Parliament, and the countries top court. In conclusion, my thoughts on the limiting terms/reformation/appointing elected senators is the regulations are too strict, but the regulations for abolishing the senate are fair and just.
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