OTTAWA — Ontario is poised to join Quebec in a constitutional showdown with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his plans for Senate reform.
Quebec has already served notice that it is preparing to challenge Harper’s go-it-alone approach to changing the Senate — arguing that he can’t change a basic institution of Parliament without the support of the provinces.
And on Tuesday, as legislation was unveiled in Ottawa to change the term limits and selection of senators, Ontario’s Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Monique Smith took that same view, saying that a legal challenge is among the options being weighed by her province.
“We do believe it requires provincial consent to move forward,” Smith told the Star after the Senate-reform bill was introduced.
If the federal Conservative government continues to argue that the Senate can be changed without that provincial consent, “we would look at our options at that point,” Smith said. A legal challenge is among the options on the table, she confirmed.
Such a battle would pit Harper’s majority government against Canada’s two largest provinces and threaten to open up the kind of constitutional quagmire that swallowed up the last Conservative majority government in Canada in the 1980s and early 1990s.
It also could be a sign of a new frontier opening up in opposition to Harper’s Conservatives.
Harper’s main headaches were caused by his federal political rivals when he had minority control in Ottawa from 2006 to the recent election. But with a majority in Parliament, easily able to pass his legislation, Harper may be forced to look increasingly to the provinces for potential obstacles to his plans.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae, a former Ontario premier, agrees that Harper is out on a constitutional limb in trying to change the Senate without provincial consent.
“Look, the Senate is a child of the Constitution of Canada. It doesn’t belong to Stephen Harper,” Rae said. “It’s all nonsensical. The Senate, if there’s going to be reform, it has to start with the provinces and the federal government sitting down and trying to get to an answer. And that’s the beginning and the end of it.”
Constitutional expert Ned Franks also calls the new legislation “dead in the water.”
“That one is sure to get shot down by the Supreme Court because that’s a substantial reform and that can’t be done without the consent of the provinces,” Franks told the Star’s Richard J. Brennan this week.
Ontario is now officially in favour of abolishing the Senate — a position also championed by the NDP opposition in Parliament, as well as several provinces such as Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
“If the government is going to insist on reforming the Senate, we think it should be abolished,” Smith said, echoing Premier Dalton McGuinty’s recent declarations on that same score.
The Senate-reform legislation introduced Tuesday treads cautiously around changing the upper chamber, whose members are currently appointed by prime ministers to serve until the age of 75.
Rather than calling for elections outright, for instance, which would require a constitutional amendment, the bill instead “supports” provinces in holding “consultations” with voters on who should be appointed to the Senate. Some provinces, such as Alberta, have been moving toward Senate elections in recent years.
Full Article
Source: Toronto Star
Quebec has already served notice that it is preparing to challenge Harper’s go-it-alone approach to changing the Senate — arguing that he can’t change a basic institution of Parliament without the support of the provinces.
And on Tuesday, as legislation was unveiled in Ottawa to change the term limits and selection of senators, Ontario’s Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Monique Smith took that same view, saying that a legal challenge is among the options being weighed by her province.
“We do believe it requires provincial consent to move forward,” Smith told the Star after the Senate-reform bill was introduced.
If the federal Conservative government continues to argue that the Senate can be changed without that provincial consent, “we would look at our options at that point,” Smith said. A legal challenge is among the options on the table, she confirmed.
Such a battle would pit Harper’s majority government against Canada’s two largest provinces and threaten to open up the kind of constitutional quagmire that swallowed up the last Conservative majority government in Canada in the 1980s and early 1990s.
It also could be a sign of a new frontier opening up in opposition to Harper’s Conservatives.
Harper’s main headaches were caused by his federal political rivals when he had minority control in Ottawa from 2006 to the recent election. But with a majority in Parliament, easily able to pass his legislation, Harper may be forced to look increasingly to the provinces for potential obstacles to his plans.
Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae, a former Ontario premier, agrees that Harper is out on a constitutional limb in trying to change the Senate without provincial consent.
“Look, the Senate is a child of the Constitution of Canada. It doesn’t belong to Stephen Harper,” Rae said. “It’s all nonsensical. The Senate, if there’s going to be reform, it has to start with the provinces and the federal government sitting down and trying to get to an answer. And that’s the beginning and the end of it.”
Constitutional expert Ned Franks also calls the new legislation “dead in the water.”
“That one is sure to get shot down by the Supreme Court because that’s a substantial reform and that can’t be done without the consent of the provinces,” Franks told the Star’s Richard J. Brennan this week.
Ontario is now officially in favour of abolishing the Senate — a position also championed by the NDP opposition in Parliament, as well as several provinces such as Manitoba and Nova Scotia.
“If the government is going to insist on reforming the Senate, we think it should be abolished,” Smith said, echoing Premier Dalton McGuinty’s recent declarations on that same score.
The Senate-reform legislation introduced Tuesday treads cautiously around changing the upper chamber, whose members are currently appointed by prime ministers to serve until the age of 75.
Rather than calling for elections outright, for instance, which would require a constitutional amendment, the bill instead “supports” provinces in holding “consultations” with voters on who should be appointed to the Senate. Some provinces, such as Alberta, have been moving toward Senate elections in recent years.
Full Article
Source: Toronto Star
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