What’s Next for the Senate: We Must Get More Independence

Raymonde Saint-Germain and Yuen Pau Woo are senators representing Quebec (De la Vallière) and British Columbia, respectively, and facilitators of the Independent Senators Group.

As the 42nd Parliament draws to a close, senators are thinking hard about the post-election landscape and how the Red Chamber will function in relation to whatever configuration of government may emerge after the federal election on Oct. 21.

In the past four years, there has been a sea change in the makeup of the Senate, with the Independent Senators Group (ISG) emerging as the largest parliamentary group (and a majority).

Whichever party – or coalition of parties – forms the majority in the House after the election will not have the luxury of a majority in the Senate. And while previous governments have managed to co-exist with Senates in which they did not have a majority, this was accomplished in part by “understandings” among partisan groups and through the discipline of party whips.

The Independent Senators Group does not have a whip. It is a collection of strong-minded individuals from diverse walks of life who fiercely guard their right to vote independently. In the current Parliament, ISG members proposed numerous amendments to government bills and, in some cases, voted against government bills.

The Senate did not defeat a government bill during the 42nd Parliament. This is likely due to a combination of factors, including an alignment of views on public policy, deference to the elected Commons and, crucially, a high degree of success in securing amendments and other improvements to government legislation.

In fact, more than 400 amendments covering 34 government bills were proposed by the Senate in the 42nd Parliament, with more than 60 per cent accepted by the House of Commons. The proof that a more independent Senate is working can be found in, on the one hand, the freedom of senators to propose meaningful amendments to government bills and, on the other, the willingness of the government to accept many of these amendments.

Some critics claim the true test of an independent Senate is in its willingness to defeat government bills. We certainly heard those calls on a variety of bills that came to the Red Chamber in the past four years. But for any given bill that was deemed to meet the test of a Senate veto, opposing voices were ready to pounce on an “undemocratic” institution overstepping its powers.

Which is why the value of the Senate should be assessed not just by how senators vote, but by the entire arc of legislative review and deliberation. This includes debates at the various stages of a bill’s progress through the Red Chamber, committee hearings, public and media engagement, and of course amendments.

Click here to read the full piece on the Globe and Mail’s website.