[LINK] Justin Trudeau on not really reforming the Senate

[rfmcdonald]

In the National Post, Liberal Party leadership contender Justin Trudeau came out in favour of not doing much with the Senate by way of reform apart from more consistently appointing a better quality of senator.

[Trudeau] said recent scandals “are a reflection of an institution that we haven’t taken proper care of and that the prime minister has gone out of his way to fill with people who, perhaps, aren’t focused on serving Canadians with the best of their ability the way they should be.”

“It needs to be fixed by demanding better of the people that we choose to appoint to the Senate. That’s the answer for me,” he said after a pep talk late Monday to several hundred

Trudeau defended the Senate as a necessary “counterpoint” to the elected House of Commons and praised most senators for doing “extraordinary work.”

[. . .]

Trudeau turned thumbs down on electing senators, without first changing the gross under-representation of western provinces or establishing a deadlock breaking mechanism between two elected parliamentary chambers.

“I think an elected Senate is a terrible idea,” he said.

“If you all of sudden have a legitimate Senate that exercises the full extent of its powers — as opposed to one that understands that it’s less legitimate than the House of Commons because it’s not elected — you’re transforming our system in very, very negative ways.

“Not to mention that all of sudden Alberta with only six senators who are elected is much weaker than Quebec, that has 24 senators that would be elected. It would unbalance so many things that we just have to focus on making it a better quality Senate rather than trying to change the Senate.”