Don't throw the senate out with the bath water.

• Author: Pare, Jean-Rodrigue
• Position: Popular legitimacy

The Senate's lack of popular legitimacy gives disproportionate significance to the other problems besetting the institution. Relying on the so-called 'democratic deficit' argument, many ask for its abolition or want it to become elective. This article suggests that both these solutions would exacerbate the democratic deficit by extending to all our parliamentary institutions the strong hold of political parties and the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister would agree to delegate power to recommend the appointment of senators to a House of Commons' committee whose decisions would be taken by consensus, the risk of radical solutions would be avoided, and the Upper Chamber would gain in popular legitimacy. It could thus continue to contribute to Canadian democracy through the independence of mind and non-partisanship of parliamentarians chosen for their eminence and the sincerity of their commitment to the well-being of all Canadians.

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The Senate has only one problem, but it is considerable: it has no popular legitimacy. This amplifies the severity of its other imperfections. For instance, the inappropriate use of their allowances by some senators has called into question the very existence of the Upper House, whereas when MPs commit similar offenses, their distractedness is rightly condemned but without any claim to abolishing the House of Commons.

Since Confederation, most critiques of the Senate have essentially been variations on the argument that our parliamentary institutions suffer from an alleged "democratic deficit." The typical argument is as follows: Senators have roughly the same powers as MPs even though they are not elected. It is impossible to get rid of even the worst senators before they reach the age of 75, unless they commit "any infamous Crime," to use the phrasing of the Constitution Act, 1967. If they were at least appointed on the recommendation of a democratic institution, as are officers of Parliament or cabinet secretaries in the United States, we might tolerate them. Alas, no, their appointments are recommended to the Governor General--who is no more legitimate--because they are loyal and partisan friends of the Prime Minister, who also suffers from a democratic deficit given that he or she can count on the submission of the elected chamber even when 60% of voters have not chosen candidates from the party he or she is running.

Faced with the Upper House's genuine image problem, Canada's political minds...