COMMENTARY: It seems Andrew Scheer prefers a partisan Senate

It seems that federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer would prefer the good old days of a partisan Senate.

That’s certainly the impression he left in his comments to CBC’s Rosemary Barton the other day.

Scheer stated that if he were prime minister, he would like to see an elected Senate, but he sees too many constitutional roadblocks to making that happen any time soon — and he’s probably right on that point.

But Scheer’s alternative is to simply stack the upper chamber with Conservative appointees who would, in his words, implement a Conservative vision for Canada.

That essentially means that he wants a Senate that would simply rubber stamp government legislation, which sadly, is the way our government has operated for generations.

The role of the Senate is certainly a political hot potato.

Prime Minister Trudeau’s idea to appoint independent, non-partisan Senators is getting mixed reviews.

Critics say that too much important legislation is being needlessly held up by the so-called non-partisan Senators.

But Scheer’s idea of loading up the Senate with partisan appointments who would get their marching orders from the prime minister hardly seems to be a worthwhile alternative.

If I could paraphrase  Mark Twain, it seems that  talk about Senate reform is like talk about the weather; everyone has an opinion on it, but nobody can do anything about it.

Bill Kelly is the host of Bill Kelly Show on AM 900 CHML and a commentator for Global News.