An active Senate?

I forgot the Senate existed until I read this comment by Stephen Harper:

"Obviously I want to make changes to the Senate but it's not going to happen overnight," he said. "There's a Liberal majority that I don't think should be flexing its muscles, but you can never predict the behaviour of a Liberal Senate majority."

(This was in the context of clarifying comments he made on the shadowy Liberal menace in the courts, senate and civil service)

The offical purpose of the Senate is to provide "a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons." In practice, it's used as a form of patronage by the various parties. The reason that I didn't think of it is that the Senate almost never does anything that makes the news (There's actually a lot of committee work run out of the senate but it's not generally considered newsworthy).

The current Senate is divided as follows:

Liberal Party 	                67
Conservative Party 	        23
Progressive Conservative Party 	 4
New Democratic Party 	         1
Independent                      5
Vacant                           5

Just eyeballing this, it looks to me like the Liberals may enjoy a slight edge, despite Martin's peculiar habit of appointing Opposition politicians to the Senate (5 of 14, as compared to Trudeau's 8 of 81 and MacDonald's 10 of 91. All other PMs appointed a total of 9 Opposition Senators).

Harper might have some reason to worry about what the Senate might do, since Lyin' Brian had a number of clashes with his Liberal-dominated Senate, which eventually led to him employing an obscure bit of constitutional law to get his way. This did not entirely work out to his party's benefit and in any case would not be useful for Harper, should the present Senate decide to get stroppy.

An active Senate?

I forgot the Senate existed until I read this comment by Stephen Harper:

"Obviously I want to make changes to the Senate but it's not going to happen overnight," he said. "There's a Liberal majority that I don't think should be flexing its muscles, but you can never predict the behaviour of a Liberal Senate majority."

(This was in the context of clarifying comments he made on the shadowy Liberal menace in the courts, senate and civil service)

The offical purpose of the Senate is to provide "a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons." In practice, it's used as a form of patronage by the various parties. The reason that I didn't think of it is that the Senate almost never does anything that makes the news (There's actually a lot of committee work run out of the senate but it's not generally considered newsworthy).

The current Senate is divided as follows:

Liberal Party 	                67
Conservative Party 	        23
Progressive Conservative Party 	 4
New Democratic Party 	         1
Independent                      5
Vacant                           5

Just eyeballing this, it looks to me like the Liberals may enjoy a slight edge, despite Martin's peculiar habit of appointing Opposition politicians to the Senate (5 of 14, as compared to Trudeau's 8 of 81 and MacDonald's 10 of 91. All other PMs appointed a total of 9 Opposition Senators).

Harper might have some reason to worry about what the Senate might do, since Lyin' Brian had a number of clashes with his Liberal-dominated Senate, which eventually led to him employing an obscure bit of constitutional law to get his way. This did not entirely work out to his party's benefit and in any case would not be useful for Harper, should the present Senate decide to get stroppy.

An active Senate?

I forgot the Senate existed until I read this comment by Stephen Harper:

"Obviously I want to make changes to the Senate but it's not going to happen overnight," he said. "There's a Liberal majority that I don't think should be flexing its muscles, but you can never predict the behaviour of a Liberal Senate majority."

(This was in the context of clarifying comments he made on the shadowy Liberal menace in the courts, senate and civil service)

The offical purpose of the Senate is to provide "a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons." In practice, it's used as a form of patronage by the various parties. The reason that I didn't think of it is that the Senate almost never does anything that makes the news (There's actually a lot of committee work run out of the senate but it's not generally considered newsworthy).

The current Senate is divided as follows:

Liberal Party 	                67
Conservative Party 	        23
Progressive Conservative Party 	 4
New Democratic Party 	         1
Independent                      5
Vacant                           5

Just eyeballing this, it looks to me like the Liberals may enjoy a slight edge, despite Martin's peculiar habit of appointing Opposition politicians to the Senate (5 of 14, as compared to Trudeau's 8 of 81 and MacDonald's 10 of 91. All other PMs appointed a total of 9 Opposition Senators).

Harper might have some reason to worry about what the Senate might do, since Lyin' Brian had a number of clashes with his Liberal-dominated Senate, which eventually led to him employing an obscure bit of constitutional law to get his way. This did not entirely work out to his party's benefit and in any case would not be useful for Harper, should the present Senate decide to get stroppy.