Canada’s Senate — who are these people?

In a recent column, National Post political commentator Andrew Coyne outlined an ongoing problem with our Canadian political system, namely, the Senate.

Canada’s Senate has certainly come under a great deal of scrutiny in the last few years, for all the wrong reasons.

We’re well acquainted with stories of poor attendance and abuse of expense accounts, but what we seem to have overlooked is the role the Senate plays.

Coyne points to the current federal budget bill, C-44, which is currently being held up in the Senate because some senators want to amend parts of the bill.

The bill will ultimately be passed in Parliament because the Liberals have a majority, but that’s not the point.

We’re told that about 20 per cent of bills in the Senate are amended by the Senate.

The obvious question is why are we letting unelected and unaccountable senators tinker with legislation?

I get the idea that the Senate is supposed to be a chamber of sober second thought on legislation and I’m OK with that.

But the only reason we allow these Senators to play such an important role in our parliamentary system is that the government of the day put them there.

If the Senate is going to play a role in shaping the laws that govern us, shouldn’t we the people determine who sits in the Red Chamber?