Abolishment Of The Senate Essay

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The Senate is a body of parliament in which bills are passed. The senators in this body of government are appointed by the Governor General with the advice from the Prime Minster and are permitted to stay in office until the age of 75. The senate is a highly contested topic with the political parties and the Canadian public. One of the problems argued, is the bias that some senators may have based on their affiliation with a particular party. This is important because they are allowed to stay in office for a long time. Along with that, there have been many cases in which senators have abused their spending budget for personal expenses. This is important as that money comes from the hardworking tax paying citizens. With this, transparency within …show more content…

The public perception of the senate has become negative throughout the years of being “lazy”. However the senate performs as the house of second thought (Brooks, 2015).This enables senators to make educated decisions on laws and passing them. There is more of a debate and looking in depth of bills. Compared to the idea of only having a House of Commons where political parties are either in a majority, minority or a joint form of government. In this case members of the house are impacted by party discipline where they are obligated to vote with their party even if their belief in a bill or policy is different. It does not allow proper discussion within a political party or house because opinions are subject to being silenced. Therefore if senate were abolished and only The House of Commons was in place it would not allow for a meaningful implementation of laws. This is the reason why reform of the senate in contrast to complete abolishment would be beneficial to fixing the problems within the senate(Hoffman, 2012). The reason being is that reform is an ability to make changes in order to improve it.In contrast to abolishment it is more of a compromise because it addresses the problems, whereas abolishment it a quick fix for a short period of …show more content…

In recent times scandals of senators misusing government expenses for things such as vacations and diners for personal expenses have unfolded. For instance, in an article by the CBC news it states that “The 2013-15 audit of senators' expenses led by auditor general Michael Ferguson cost some $23.6 million but found a relatively paltry $600,000 in ineligible expenses. (The annual budget for the Senate is just north of $100 million a year.)The review, which examined every expense senators incurred over a two-year period, was a "colossal waste of money," in the eyes of Liberal Sen. Percy Downe, with a poor "return on investment.”(Tasker, Sep 23, 2017). This quote illustrates the enormous amounts of unnecessary spending by senators. It is under criticism, not only for a huge waste of money but also the fact that the money they are spending comes out of tax payers pockets. It sparks outrage within the Canadian public because not only do the Canadian public have little say in who gets appointed as a senator but when senators are appointed they abuse their privileges. In addition to that, the money that was spent on personal expenses for the senators could have been used for actually benefiting the Canadian public instead of being wasted by senators. In order to improve upon this there needs to be more transparency within the senate. This could include a yearly

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