In the wake of the ongoing Senate spending scandal and subsequent trials and tribulations, Stephen Harper seems to have come to the conclusion that the NDP was right all along about the upper chamber. He still remains timid about the possibility of talking to the provinces about anything, let alone constitutional change, so his big plan is to let the Senate wither away through attrition.
The problem that highlights is an ongoing one: either you have the courage of your convictions (pardon the pun) and get on with what would really be required to do away with the institution, or you make it work properly by keeping an effective force of people who take their roles seriously and study legislation as it ought to be before approving it.
I guess it might suit the Prime Minister just fine to be down to a handful of senators faced with the mammoth task of studying one of his trademark omnibus bills with an odious name, and their giving up because they have neither the time nor the support to do so.
That is a cynical and disgusting approach to governing, and certainly not leadership.
Further reading here.
A bolder move would
be to act on the courage
of their convictions*
be to act on the courage
of their convictions*
*Note that as of 21 August 2015 no senators have yet been convicted.
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