OTTAWA – As the Conservatives grapple with an ongoing Senate expense scandal, Tory Sen. Hugh Segal hopes a national referendum on the upper chamber during the 2015 election will be promised in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Throne Speech this fall.
“I would hope it would be actively one of the matters that is being given consideration,” said Segal, a leading proponent of Senate reform.
Segal – who championed the idea of a national vote for Senate reform, abolition or status quo in 2008 – believes the appetite for a referendum has grown.
“There’s probably more of a desire now for real reform or abolition than there would have been 10 or 15 years ago,” he said.
While Segal favours reform, he thinks the public should be able to decide if they want to get rid of the Senate altogether.
“Canadians should have a right to vote for abolition, without any hesitation, because if that’s what Canadians want, they pay the bills and we should govern ourselves accordingly.”
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to request for comment when asked if a referendum will be included in the throne speech. In a written statement to Global News, the Minister of State for Democratic Reform, Pierre Poilievre, reiterated lines used in the recent past regarding Senate reform.
“We are the only party with a real plan to reform the Senate, and that includes strict new accountability rules,” he said. “Canadians understand that our Senate, as it stands today, must either change or, like the old upper houses of our provinces, vanish.”
Segal says the prime minister told him his preference is reform, but if he could not figure out a way to reform it, abolition may be an option. The NDP wants the Senate abolished.
The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to give guidance this year on how the Senate can be reformed or abolished.
The National Post reported Thursday Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall’s government is set to introduce a constitutional amendment into the legislature this October calling for the abolition of the Senate, although a provincial spokeswoman has since denied the claim.
A request to speak with Wall was not returned.
Depending on the nature of reform, such as elections or fixed-term dates, Segal believes constitutional amendments would require at least seven provinces with a population greater than 50 per cent plus one.
On Thursday, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation revealed its campaign to hold a referendum on the fate of the upper chamber, complete with a giant Mike Duffy blow-up balloon.
Segal, whose amendments on a Conservative private-member’s bill on union disclosure sent it back to the House for consideration, still believes the Senate can be reformed.
He points out bills which are hastily passed in the House of Commons, or have technical mistakes, benefit from a second look in the Senate.
But he understands why the public appears to hold such disdain for the institution because its legislators have not been elected – especially in light of the recent Senate expense scandal.
“The more democratic accountability that you have in the Senate, the more legitimate it will be,” he said.
“If you have an institution that’s viewed as illegitimate, then any problem involving one senator and his or her expenses becomes a problem for the whole institution.”
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