Pubdate: Sat, 12 Dec 2009
Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB)
Copyright: 2009 The Edmonton Journal
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/letters.html
Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134
Page: 4
Author: David Akin

IMPENDING SENATE MAJORITY INVITES PROMISED REFORMS

Harper Government To Wrest Control From Liberals - A First Since 
Mulroney Was PM

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may only have a minority in the House 
of Commons, but he'll soon have a majority in the Senate, a change 
that could hasten Conservative plans for Senate reform.

Harper is expected to appoint five new senators next month, said Sen. 
Marjory LeBreton, the Conservative leader of the government in the 
Senate and one of Harper's close advisers.

"We're committed to Senate reform and so is the prime minister," 
LeBreton said during an interview in her Parliament Hill office 
Friday. "But (Harper) has also made the point that we couldn't 
continue on as a government having our whole agenda and all of our 
policies driven by a group of unelected people from two governments ago."

It will be the first time since Brian Mulroney was prime minister 
that the Liberals will not be the leading party in the Senate.

"We're clearly in a transition phase and that will change the 
dynamics in the chamber," said Sen. James Cowan, who leads the 
Liberals in the upper house. "In a way, it will take some of the 
uncertainty out of the situation because they will clearly have the 
majority in the chamber and they will be expected to win all the 
votes, just as we were expected to win all the votes."

The Conservatives - and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson in particular 
- - are fond of blaming the so-called unelected, unaccountable Liberal 
dominated Senate for "gutting" bills that have made it out of the 
House of Commons.

But come next month, they won't have that bogeyman to kick around anymore.

"It will be the unelected, unaccountable Conservative-dominated 
Senate and the expectations, particularly beyond Mr. Harper's office, 
will be that all he has to do is snap his fingers and the unelected, 
unaccountable majority in the Senate will do what he says when he 
wants it done," Cowan said with a wry smile. "Well, that isn't going 
to happen."

Cowan said he believes most senators, be they Liberal or 
Conservative, subscribe to the idea that their role is to provide 
advice back to the House of Commons on any piece of legislation. And 
he expects that, despite the soon-to-be new numbers in the Senate, 
which favour the government, the Senate will continue to provide its 
own input on government legislation.

"That's the history of this place and I think it will continue," said Cowan.

There are three Senate vacancies now and there will be two more by 
the first week of January.

Liberal Sen. Lorna Milne is set to retire on Sunday upon reaching her 
75th birthday and Liberal Sen. Jerry Grafstein will do the same when 
he turns 75 on Jan. 2.

When those two senators retire, the Liberals will be down to 49 
senators, compared to 46 Conservatives.

Harper, though, would almost certainly fill the five vacancies that 
will exist after Grafstein's retirement with Conservatives, giving 
the Tories a 51-49 edge over the Liberals.

(One Liberal senator, Raymond Lavigne, is currently suspended from 
the Liberal caucus while he faces a fraud trial so, technically, the 
Liberals would have just 48 votes to count on.)

Harper has already appointed 29 senators and the next batch will 
boost his total to 34, still a long way from the 75 senators Jean 
Chretien appointed or the 103 senators William Lyon Mackenzie King appointed.

That said, Harper once swore he would appoint no senators until a 
system was in place to elect them.

"So we have to fill the Senate vacancies in order to implement the 
agenda that we were elected to implement," LeBreton said.

Senators earn $130,000 a year until they are 75. One key element of 
Harper's senate reform proposals is to limit Senate terms to eight years.

While that would be a plurality in the Senate, it would not be a 
majority as there are five senators who are not aligned with either 
the Liberals or the Conservatives and would technically hold the 
balance of power.

But unlike the House of Commons, where every MP is expected to be 
present for every crucial vote, a handful of senators often miss 
crucial votes for health or other reasons.

As a result, even though a 51-49 lead in the 105-seat Senate is not 
an absolute majority, it will be, in LeBreton's phrase, "a working 
majority" that will make it easier for the Conservatives to advance 
their agenda on Senate reform and more quickly pass legislation in 
the Senate that has already been approved in the House of Commons.

"What we will not have is irresponsible representation of our 
legislation, which is what we're getting right now," LeBreton said.

The Senate sat until after midnight on Thursday debating a government 
bill to raise penalties for drug traffickers and spent most of Friday 
on that bill.

The Senate will continue debate on the drug trafficking bill and on 
other legislation to beef up consumer protection next week.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart