Term-limits Bill "Small Step" Towards
More Effective Senate, Tory Senator Says

The Harper government's proposal to limit senators to eight-year terms is addressing the public's No. 1 complaint about the much-maligned upper chamber, the Conservative government's Senate leader said Thursday.

Marjory LeBreton told the Senate that the lengthy terms of up to 45 years served by some senators hurts the legitimacy of the chamber.

She said the term-limiting bill she was introducing was "a small step" to modernize the outdated legislature that has remained mostly untouched since it was created by the Fathers of Confederation around 1867.

LeBreton also emphasized that the eight-year terms are meant for senators who are elected to their seats, as promised by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Several Liberal senators challenged the government's interpretation that the proposed constitutional amendment required to make the change does not require the approval of at least seven provinces, representing 50 per cent of the population.

Liberal Senator Percy Downe recalled that during his time working in the Prime Minister's Office under Jean Chrétien, the Justice Department advised on more than one occasion that such an amendment would require so-called "seven-50" approval in order to be constitutional.

LeBreton said the legal opinions she had received from constitutional experts is that the bill does not change the essential characteristics of the Senate. She cited former senator Gerald Beaudoin, a well-known University of Ottawa constitutional expert, giving "adamant" advice on the matter in support of Parliament being able to unilaterally amend the Constitution to bring in the eight-year terms.

She said the government decided on the eight-year length after considering the six-year terms of the American and Australian senates and the nine-year terms recommended by a Senate study in the early 1990s.

LeBreton added that eight years will represent two maximum four-year terms in the lower chamber after its complementary bill for fixed election dates is made law.

But fellow Conservative Anne Cools told the Senate that she was troubled by the bill, pointing out that "so-called" constitutional experts sometimes don't know any more than the next person and this may be a case of "a mistaken constitutional phenomenon."

"They may be wrong. They may be presenting a lot of advice about a subject matter that they really know very little about, which is not uncommon among a lot of these so-called experts," said Cools.

Liberal Senator Sharon Carstairs, whose father was also a senator, argued that eight-year terms should be considered a "fundamental change" to the chamber and require the approval of the provinces.

And Liberal Senator Serge Joyal, who is also considered a constitutional expert, said it was his opinion that the "essential" characteristics of the Senate would be changed with the bill since most senators who are appointed now are over 50 years of age and come to the job with experience from exercising a profession.

But since the age restrictions -- current senators must be at least 30 years old and retire at 75 -- are being lifted, the experience factor will be removed from the senior chamber.

LeBreton pointed out that senators currently sitting in the Senate will have the option, once they turn 75, of running in an election to regain their seat in the upper chamber, if they wish.

Meanwhile, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said his province should be treated as a fifth region with 20 per cent of the seats if the federal government pushes ahead with a full-scale Senate.

"I think the sooner people understand we have a Pacific region in this country the better off we are," said Campbell.

Quebec is seen as reluctant to make concessions. That province has 24 of 105 Senate seats, which is roughly proportionate to its share of the national population.

Alberta and B.C., with a combined 23 per cent of the population, have only six seats apiece. The four provinces in Atlantic Canada, with seven per cent of the population, have a combined 30 seats.

Senate reform advocates in Western Canada have pushed for a Triple E (elected, effective and equal) in which each province has the same number of seats.

But some British Columbians have argued that the Senate should equally represent five regions -- the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and B.C.

By Jack Aubry