Last words on the Senate

Yes, I know, old news. But hey, it's the holidays. I am busy eating turkey, ragout, and other tasty treats from both sides of the Ottawa River.

I am honesty torn on the Conservative's appointment of these 18 new Senators, Stephen Harper has clearly gone back on his word on this issue. No one can deny this.

Prior to the 18 appointments, Stephen Harper has appointed only two other senators to the red chamber:

• Michael Fortier (to represent Montreal in the Cabinet)
• Bert Brown (elected senator-in-waiting from Alberta)

One was elected as a senator-in-waiting, though Fortier wasn't. Fortier did however run in the next election, and he ran in a riding that was have been almost in possible for him to win. No safe riding for him. So at least kudos for that.

Should Harper have appointed 18 new Conservative Senators to the Senate while government was prorogued? Should Harper have broken his word and appointed these unelected Senators to the yet to be reformed Senate?

No, he shouldn't have, but he has every right to have done so. He should have attempted one more time to bring about some limited reforms to the Senate, he could have used the threat of his appointing Senators if that last attempted failed.

Now I know there are lots of arguments in favour of these appointments, the two main ones being:

• If we don't do it, then the coalition will, and they might appoint a separatist.
  
• The Senate isn't functioning well, there are not enough Conservative Senators to sit in on the committees.

The first argument is childish, and weak. Two wrongs don't make a right. I also doubt either the Bloc or the NDP would have had Senators appointed. The NDP and the Bloc are completely opposed to the Senate, and have (for all intents and purposes) ex-communicated the one NDP senator ever appointed. It would not have happened. The second argument is better, and is at least based in reality. A well functioning senate is important, in my opinion the senate's committees work much better then those in the lower house. And they are much less partisan.

So the Goverment's arguments in favour of appointments are weak, and I am not a supporter of this blatant promise breaking by Harper, so this must mean I am a secret coalition lover...or something. Just to set the record straight, no I am not. Now the opposition arguments against the appointments are weak and pathetic as well.

The NDP argued that the government shouldn't have appointed the senators, and doing so only shows they don't care about the economy. WTF? Dear NDP, the government needs to juggle more then one ball to be effective. The rest of the government cannot grind to a halt just because of the economy. Would the NDP have said these same comments if the government announced some more crown land being marked as federal park land to protect it from development? No, I don't think so. The other common NDP argument against the appointments was the cost of having these senators, I forget the exact amount, but it was something like 50 million in pay and perks over their 8 year term. Of course we would have saved 240 million+ over the same 8 years had the NDP joined the Conservatives in getting rid of public subsidies for political parties.

The NDP arguments against are silly.

The Liberals argue that Harper is out of line for appointing these Senators while the goverment is prorogued. They argue some claptrap about being in a constitutional greyzone. They are completely wrong on this point.

But according to a constitutional expert, Harper isn't out of line in making the appointments.

"Absolutely, unreservedly so, there are no limitations on his appointment powers," said Peter Woolstencroft, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo, in an interview with CTV Newsnet.

Both main opposition parties completely fail in their arguments against the Senate appointments. Is it really any wonder how the Conservatives manage to out think, out play, and out last the opposition parties? The worse thing is we can expect more of the same in 2009 as 8 more senators retire.