Abolish The Senate Essay

According to a poll on National Citizens Coalition, 49.3% of the population who voted agreed that the Senate should be abolished (44% voted “…elected and held accountable”; 6.7% voted “…should be left as is”) (National Citizens Coalition). These are the options that are available for what we should do with the Canadian Senate. The number one view for what should be done with the senators is to get rid of them. This would not be done easily. In order to abolish the Canadian Senate every province would have to unanimously agree and consent (Hannay, 2015). Another option would be to reform the process of electing a Senate. This would change in the way that the Governor General and Prime Minister would no longer have the power to appoint this position; but rather the citizens of Canada would have the power to elect (Hannay, 2015). Reforming would require approval from at least 50% or more of …show more content…
Such a powerful position with a high salary ($135,200; as of 2013) for 105 people should not be based on reward or loyalty to the political party running; which, because of democracy tends to happen (Foot, 2015). The power of appointing, in this case, is often abused. For such a powerful position with a high salary, senators do not have a lot of responsibilities. The Senate’s powers consist of reading bills multiple times and vetoing, delaying, amending, or establishing laws (Foot, 2015). They have essentially the same responsibilities as the House of Commons; therefore, we do not need both. This also does not seem like a whole lot for someone who does not have to spend 8-10 years in post-secondary school like a dentist who has the same approximate salary. I believe it would be a different story if the senators were elected, had more responsibility and were in charge of individual provinces; but since that is not the case and probably never will be, the Canadian Senate should be