Issue report
This article is all about the Canadian senate. The article describes the failed role of the senate for the purpose for which it was selected. For instance, according to the article, the main purpose for the appointment of the Canadian Senate was to be a voice for regional and propertied interests. The article also discusses the failure of the Canadian Senate to implement the senate reforms despite many attempts to make it do so.
This article examines the present Canadian Senate. It focuses on the chambers’ membership, its function and powers. The article argues about the reasons for failure of Senate reforms despite many attempts to implement reforms in the Senate. For instance, the article postulate that the Senate reforms have failed simply because of being linked to larger constitutional reforms packages. These arguments are being made because of the failure of the Senate to perform specific purposes for which they were designed for. They support their arguments by stating two important primary undemocratic deficiencies which include: undemocratic nature of the Senator selection and the inability of the Senators to perform their representative duties properly.
The weak part of this article is where the Author emphasises on the reforms put in place to revamp the Senate assembly. This part is weak because, the Author does not tell as the type of reforms which have been put in place to correct the undemocratic-nature of the Senate. Another weakness comes in where the Author shows that most people are complaining about the senate. I find it weak because the author does not tell as the action these people have taken or are planning to take so as to correct the Senate stalemate. Actually, wherever there is any political malpractice, various people not necessarily the common citizens always try to correct the matter. However, the Author tells us that the Senate’s undemocratic nature has been there for long but he doesn’t tell us the actions that are being taken to correct the stalemate.
For the actual political practise, this article can mean many things. For instance, it may mean that political practices are always deals that are meant to favour certain groups of people or individuals. For example, despite the fact that the Canadian Senate being appointed to be the voice of regional and the propertied interests, it is shocking that it is serving the interests of the party leaders more than the interest of the people for which it had been appointed to serve. The Senate mainly focuses on the interests of the prime minister and the top leadership. We are also told that some prime ministers while appointing the Senate considers some factors such as religion, ethnicity and political affiliations. This simply tells you that they do this in order to protect their own political interests.
This article is addressing a problem of Senate’s undemocratic nature. According to me, the solutions for this problem is to overhaul the whole Senate and then set up structures and rules and regulations that ensures that the Senate remains democratic and serves the role for which it was intended to serve. True reforms should be brought on board. The appointments of the Senate should be based on Merit and not ethnic, religion or political affiliation line.
