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Apparently not. Lifetime appointies with gold plated pensions are much preferable to elected senators. You must be American. Elected Senators. Pfft.

   

Elected senators would be preferable, but that would involve re-opening the Constitution and Canadians have simply had enough of that with Meech Lake, the Charlottetwon Accord and the re-patriation of the BNA Act in 1982. There is very little desire on the part of most Canadians and even less political will to try.

   

This. Elections would obviously be preferable, but so unlikely at this point that I'll take any improvement over the status quo.

   

Why can't I shake the feeling that Trudeau is distancing himself from the Liberal Senators for a specific reason which doesn't have anything to do with this latest attempt at reformation.

My guess is that this group of stalwarts along with their Conservative compadres is in the shit for something that will be surfacing soon because, if that isn't the reason then Mr.Trudeau just made himself some very powerful enemies who have been king makers in the Liberal Party for decades.

   

What would the point of an elected Senate be? Would it be the same number of senators from each province, like the US? If so, would we redistrict Commons ridings so that it truly is one person one vote, not favor certain provinces the way we do now? Would we do the same in rural vs urban, so rural voters no longer have a more powerful vote than urban?

Would the powers be the same as the Commons, so you could have all sorts of stalemates? Who would be Prime Minister, the one with most seats in house of Commons or Senate? Would we instead vote for PM directly, like the US? Would we just adopt their system holus bolus?

I don't see the need for a second house of vote sluts. JT did a great thing here. Up to now he's been light on policy, but this is a strong policy statement. And not just a statement, but action, real action, not just words. Action that took guts. You go, JT. As people have been pointing out, he's a good politician, more than just a pretty face.

   

I tend to agree with Andy . I would like the Senate to have the limited powers (perhaps more) it has now but be appointed by the individual Provincial Legislatures for some fixed term. That way they would have their loyalty to where they came from and perhaps even get "whipped" by the Province, not a federal party.

   

Appointed by the Premier would be better than the Lt. Governor

   

The thought of Wynne appointing senators makes my blood curdle.

   

But JT doing it doesn't bother you?

   

JT hasn't proven to be a can short of a six pack yet. Ontario has had over ten years (hell maybe all the way back to Bob Rae) of lame duck failures as premiers, and I don't cherish the thought of more power going to that position.

   

Didn't anyone read the memo? Those senators will now sit as the "Senate Liberal Caucus". It has nothing to do with reforming the senate and it certainly doesn't have anything to do with Justin's approval/disapproval of his liberal senate counterparts expense claims. All he's doing is distancing himself from the soon to come shit storm which will result from the audit.

I can't believe how this is being spun as Justin being some sort of hero. It's such a blatant attempt to remove himself from the ensuing controversy that you'd have to walk up to someone and slap them in the face to make it more obvious.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/justin-trudeau-senators-differ-on-what-independence-means-1.2515542

   

The arrogance of this little creep. He thinks he can dupe Canadians with this move because it`s plausible to him and his entourage. Only an idiot would buy this BS

   

Kudos to JT for jumping on the Anti Senate bandwagon pandering for some much needed political points.

   

As JT said, anybody can join the Liberal party. He's not going to kick the Senators out of the party, they're just not invited to the caucus anymore, ie not part of the political process of the house of commons. Nothing stops them from forming a caucus in the Senate, nothing stops them for calling it a Liberal caucus. But removed from the MP's, they'll start drifting away to do their own thing, instead of marching in lockstep the way Harper's trained seals do.

   

Why would it be preferable for senators to be accountable to a provincial legislature than a provincial electorate?

   

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