Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Scaremongering regarding the Canadian Senate
As debate surrounding the Senate heats up on the heels of reforms being proposed by the Tory government, we're bound to hear more arguments about how an elected upper chamber will lead to American-style gridlock between two houses in the legislature. Liberal opposition leader Bill Graham already repeated the argument earlier today.
I find these kinds of arguments to be weak. They essentially ignore all those countries in the world that get along just fine with two elected bodies in the legislature -- usually divided into lower and upper houses.
Modern democracies are supposed to contain layers. Liberals didn't have any problem when one of those layers meant left-wing judges could use the Charter to make new laws, just like they do in the States. So why would they have a problem with a layer that involves an elected check on the power of the government? Odd.
