The Structure And Purpose of Canada's Senate

How Canada’s Upper House Works

Sep 2, 2009

Canada's upper house of Parliament is called the Senate. But what is its purpose? How is it structured? This article will explain those origins, and touch on some ideas.

The Senate is known as Canada’s “sober house of second thought,” and consists of 105 members. They represent all political stripes, with the Liberals currently holding the majority.

Canadian Senators Appointed On Prime Minister’s Advice

The House of Commons is home to 308 elected Members of Parliament (MP’s). The second is the Senate. Instead of being elected, senators are appointed by the Governor General on the Prime Minister’s advice. The members can be as young as 30, and can serve until age 75. Among the younger members at age 34 is Patrick Brazeau.

The number of senators per province is decided based on population. Currently the standings are as follows:

Canadian Senate’s Purpose: “Sober Second Thought”

Canada’s first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald envisioned the senate by to be a “the sober second thought in legislation.” It was originally designed to represent a minority, and be the counterbalance to the House of Commons in case of an overwhelming majority. Though it is rarely used, the Senate has the power to veto any legislation passed by the House, for example: if the government passes an unpopular tax measure, the Senate can overrule it. The government makes the changes, waits three months and reintroduces the legislation.

Recently the Senate has come under fire for being nothing more than a place for patronage appointments. When the federal Liberals spent a decade in power, they appointed enough candidates to gain the majority. An often repeated complaint of Stephen Harper's is the senate has stalled his legislative agenda. In response he has named 27 people to the upper house, 18 in February, and nine in August.

Possible Senate Reform: Triple “E” Senate

Over the last few years people have begun talking about reforming the Senate. One of these ideas takes the form of the Triple “E” Senate, with the three “E”’s standing for: Elected, Equal, and Effective.

Elected: The Senate’s critics argue the House of Commons, and the Prime Minister both have too much power. Electing Senators would make the institution more responsible to the people. Former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier was a senator, and at the time he was appointed to cabinet it was suggested he was willing to stand for election.

Equal: The idea here is to even out the representation. The political ridings of the House of Commons are based on population. This has led to feelings of regionalism. It’s argued making the Senate equal would eliminate this by allowing those less populous areas more of a political voice.

Effective: Critics argue the Senate is unable to effectively exercise its powers. An effectively reformed senate would check and balance the powers of the House of Commons.

Any Senate reforms would take a constitutional amendment because it would affect the way Canada is governed.

The copyright of the article The Structure And Purpose of Canada's Senate in Canadian Affairs is owned by Laura Steiner. Permission to republish The Structure And Purpose of Canada's Senate in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.