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Yesterday the Canadian Senate voted down Bill C-311, The Climate Change Accountability Act, which holds the government to the fire with regards to a response to Climate Change in Canada. It wants 25% reductions from 1990 levels by 2020, and 80% by 2050. This bill went through Parliament with the support of all three opposition parties and got through first reading in May. Now, between May and November there are 200 days. It seems like the Conservative senators, close to an outright majority thanks to Harper breaking ranks with Reform ideology and stacking it, had been holding off actually bringing it forward. The Liberal leader of the Senate Grant Mitchell tried to bring it forward and, somehow, this meant that the bill had to come to a vote. BANG! It gets voted down and without any proper debate or discussion. Climate Change legislation bill C-311, with the help of the unelected will of the Senate against the will of Parliament, is blasted apart and now there is no hope of for serious Climate Change legislation until another election. The leader of the government in the Senate, Marjory LeBreton, said the fault lies with the Liberals for bringing this bill to a vote. I call bull!!
So who is responsible for this. First and foremost I blame Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I’ve written ever since Harpers first Senate appointment that he had seriously disspointed me. For all the differences in opinion between Harper and myself, I always admired his push for an elected Senate and hoped that when he came to power, the NDP and Bloc and Tories would ban together and change this thing. Harper has, for the purpose of political expediency, appointed 35 senators. Somehow, that seems to me far and away from the elected senate he had advocated for years, and something I had respected him for.
Second, I blame the unelected, unaccountable senate. This is one place that I defer from my party, the NDP. I don’t agree that we should abolish the senate and leave it unreplaced. We need a source of scrutiny for legislation that is passed in the very partisan house of commons. Many say that this will mean parties, funding, elections, etc. I say fine, let it happen. Democracy rules the day with an elected senate, where as simply keeping the status quo allows unelected patronage appointees to run roughshod over our democratic principles.
Frankly, I’m disgusted. I know with the Harper government in power there was no real hope of passing Climate Change legislation. Come to think of it, it looks like former Environment Minister Jim Prentice quit his post just in time. But the elected will of parliament has been superseded and it leaves a sickening taste in my mouth. It’s time for Senate reform to be brought to the public consciousness again. Layton wants full abolition, and I’m sure the Liberals must want some kind of reform (to not would truly put them out of step with modernity). To me it makes no sense to keep this cushy retirement villa from supplanting our votes.
There have been so many depressing moments in the last five years of our country, but this is the final straw. Our democracy has been sabotaged by personal lust for power over love of Canada. Our best interests are being co-opted by Palin-style ijits. A motley crew of ex-television hacks and political dilettantes has overtaken the Senate and taken precedence over OUR elected professionals.
This is what we have come to? Fuck it. It’s time for a revolution of thought and culture in Canada. But that won’t happen with our bought and sold conservative media monopoly and an apathetic population. There is NO ONE on the left to inspire us. We are impotent and lazy.
The entirety of our country has been pirated by a 30 percent mob of special interests and fundamentalist opportunists. We let it happen. Shame on us.
Logan Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 7:33 AM
We on the left have been too lazy, relying on our moral rightousness to win the day. Well guess what? The electorate has been won over by an ideologue who should be easy enough to beat with both hands tied behind our backs. We are not mobilizing properly though. The mass on the left are either disenfranchized or too split amongst the Libs and NDP (and to some extent the Greens, though argument can be made they are not left leaning at all) and we as progressives have to band together. Yes, a revolution is necessary, but not a violent one. Rather, a revolution in our thinking and acting. We have to become grassroots again. We can not longer allow the right to be us at our own game.
ck Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 11:15 AM
We on the left have been too lazy, relying on our moral rightousness to win the day.
I’m going to pull a Dr Phil here and say, “How’s that been working for us?”
Greens are not left leaning, at least, not under Lizzy May. I never forgot what she said about abortion. Also, let’s not forget that she was a Brian Mulroney staffer.
The mass on the left are either disenfranchized or too split amongst the Libs and NDP
All of the above is indeed true, yet, to rectify that, it would require pragmatism and compromise. I don’t see neither coming along.
There’s another problem with the left that I’ve been noticing reading on some of the progressive bloggers; they’re not pragmatic, and many only see what they want to see and get disappointed when something comes out they don’t like, That will be our downfall, ultimately. After recent events, I can see Stevie Spiteful getting his majority in the next election unless attitudes change and become more compromising and realistic.
one big problem is that Jane and Joe Six-pack at Timmy Hortons is often ignored by progressives and the hard right like Stevie spiteful and Rob Ford proved it recently in Toronto, know how to pander to them. The Timmy Horton’s Crowd are the majority of Canadians. They’re your neighbours, co-workers, friends, relatives…hell, I’m married to one!! Really find out who they are. While perhaps not as to the extreme as say the Blogging SupposiTories or the Tea-baggers or the Chuckles McVety’s, they have prejudices they don’t care about Afghan detainees, green living is too expensive, too difficult and too inconvenient. things like UN security council or foreign affairs are too abstract. And yes, they think they pay too many taxes. They don’t like having their misinformation corrected, because that’s too “elitist” and “arrogant” for them. They worry about their jobs, health care, the economy, their retirement or if they will ever get to retire. They too have been led to believe that soshalism is evul.
That very same crowd is being shifted to the right because we ignore them or refuse to acknowledge their existance and Stevie Spiteful and his motley crowd pander to them with the help of his corporate media. We can no longer continue to ignore them or yes, Stevie will have not only his majority, but a clear one, more will come out to the polls to vote for him.
And another thing, stop blaming the Liberals for everything. It is not helpful or constructive and it simply helps Stevie remain in office and help him to that coveted majority. Both the NDP and the Bloc have their own share of blame, duplicity and game playing to go around as well. The sooner we realize that no party is better than the other and all of them are problematic, the better. This will be about facing certain realities and making the best of what we have to work with.
In fact, I’d be watching the Bloc in the near future. I think there is substance to the rumours of them propping up the Harpercons in some upcoming key votes in exchange for not only that coveted hockey rink in Quebec City, but also to further fuel the sovereignty cause. Hint: Chantal Hebert was quite right when she said that the most favourable scenario for the “yes” side to win the next referendum on sovereignty would be a Harpercon majority. Duceppe is smart enough to know that. I’m only saying this because many progressives seem to think the Bloc is honorable and such and have most integrity and can be counted on. I’m saying we must be wary of them too, like the other 2 parties.
Do not blame the Senate..Blame Harper for putting in his cronies so he could get away with murder, which he could still do if there was no Senate..things would be worse, even.
Logan Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 7:38 AM
The Senate is to blame Annie. They sit on their hands as unelected representatives and run roughshod over our democracy. But no Brian, don’t abolish. We need a second chamber. It’s the best way to maintain democracy and sober second thought. It can be made more sober by making it non-partisan. Have provincial elections with monetary caps (like municipal elections which are mostly non-party affiliated) and then have a parl committee made up of all parties with the allowance of a specific number of vetos. If, by the end of selection there are not enough members, go back over the list and fish out the best contenders. Also, the Senate should sit on committee days (do you know the senate only sat for 44 days in 2005?) and give them six year term limits. They, of course, could stand for re-election.
I think this is a good solution and gives the second chamber a good balance without the partisanship. Also, it doesn’t involve a changing of the Constitution, because the Prime Minister just has to take committee approved list and recommend it to GG.
ck Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 9:51 AM
I dunno, the senate became a joke to me when I learned that Porky Puffy Duffy did nothing but do fancy dinners and ran up an expense bill that was more than most families earn in a year and of course, when Stevie Spiteful appointed an illiterate hockey coach. I mean, really, if all senators do for a 6 figure salary and perks is run up expense accounts for fancy dinners and the ability to read and write is optional, then I’m really not impressed. Perhaps Brian is right, we should consider abolishing it.
Honestly I don’t know how it’s possible not to blame the senate first and foremost. Harper may have his head in the sand regarding the very real and credible threat of climate change, but do we expect all of the senators that he appointed be equally ignorant? Shame on them for subverting the democratic process and not standing up for the best long term interests of the country they serve.
But after yesterday’s senate action, why do you feel that we should have a senate at all? I don’t identify with the NDP but I do agree with them very strongly on abolishing the senate. Do we really need two elected Houses? Once the senate is elected, how do you keep their power under wraps? To see the problems with an elected senate you need only look to the United States, where many meaningful bills (climate change), passed by the elected House and reflecting the will of the people, go to die. Why? Because senators in the US don’t see the lower house as reflecting the will of the people. Rather, [it's the elected senators belief that] it’s the elected senators who should have the final say. What the heck is the point? What role do you really want Canada’s elected senators to fulfill? What kind of bills do you expect them to kill? And under what circumstances? One elected house is sufficient, in my opinion.
ck Reply:
November 18th, 2010 at 7:15 AM
Hard to say, really. Senators, once upon a time, used to be semi-neutral & had their uses. It is Stevie Spiteful, hisself who politicized them.
Furthermore, talk about your dirty strategies; Harper deliberately sat on this bill and waited for a time to make sure there would be enough Liberal senators absent before presenting that bill.
I agree that emotions play into this, especially when such extravagence plays out, but lets be realistic. The cost benefit analases of a functioning senate far outweighs not having it at all. Let’s not forget that if there was a majority in the house with an opposite majority in the senate then the government of the day couldn’t just pass any legislation it wishes. Right now, we rely on the partisan and political point getting of the House to get legislation through that is good for Canadians because the senate is packed with Harpercons. True, it wont always workout this way. The Dems had both the congress and the senate. But there lies the huge difference between Canada and the US: 2/3rds majority. I’m a HUGE fan of 2/3rd majorities because simple majorities are too easy to obtain. On a referendum, fine, allow a simple majority. But when it comes to Senate legislation I feel that for anything to pass a 2/3 majority should be a minumum. Just getting rid of it in favor of a unicameral parliament is no my idea of a secure democracy. If a Harper majority gets through with that kind of set up, God help us all.