Time to reform the Senate in Canada.

Unlike our American friends south of us, the Senate in Canada is not an elected body. Senators are appointed by Prime Ministers, and are not elected by the people to serve the people. Each Prime Minister regardless of political party always stacks the Senate with their own people. These people are very partisan, and 9 out of 10 times if you are a great fundraiser for the party in power, or if you are a very partisan news reporter then you are a shoe-in for a seat in the Senate.

When the House of Commons passes a bill it's sent up to the Senate for a vote, and if the Senate passes the bill then it's sent back to the house so it can become law. While sometimes the bill is changed in the Senate, for the most part the bill still passes as the changes might just be in the wording of the bill.

When Prime Minister Haprer was campaigning he promised to reform the Senate as he believed that Senators like MP's should run for office and be elected by the people, much like they are in the United States. As we all know saying one thing when you are on the campaign trail and actually passing Senate reform are two very different things. When given the chance, Harper stacked the Senate with his own hand picked people, much like Prime Ministers before him did. One also has to remember that if you are appointed to the Senate in Canada it's for life, and not a fixed term. Not a bad deal if you are lucky to be part of the inner circle of a sitting Prime Minister or their political party.

I for one want to see the Senate in Canada become much like the Senate in the United States. If you want to be a Senator, you get your party's nomination and run for your Senate seat. The term of a Senator would match the term of an MP. If the house falls, then so does the Senate and an election is called for both houses.
We need our Senators to be held accountable to not just a certain political party, but to you and me as voters. It's worked in the United States for well over 200 years and it can work in Canada as well, and I bet it would work better in Canada.