The latest Scandal Du Jour in Ottawa revolves around those "unelected, unaccountable, greedy" appointees who sit in Parliament's upper house.
I am talking, of course, about the Canadian Senate.
Lately, there has been a whirlwind of press around the bad behaviour of our senators. There are assault and sexual assault, charges against Conservative Patrick Brazeau, who was suspended from the Senate. Then there is the audit going on into Senators' expenses, with fingers being pointed at Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin over whether they are actual residents of the places they are representing.
Just recently the federal NDP launched a website entitled the Senate Hall of Shame, where they denounced Duffy, Wallin, Brazeau, Liberal Sen. Mac Harb and well-known Conservative fundraiser Sen. Irving Gerstein.
It really is a one-sided impression you get from the political parties, and from the national media, about the Senate. The impression is that the Senate is a waste of money, filled with useless, taxpayer-subsidized party hacks.
But I think the recent talk about residential requirements, expenses, and Senators' behaviour misses the mark. People seem too interested in using these controversies as their excuse to bash the Senate and say how unaccountable it is.
What has been lacking are constructive opinions on how to make the Senate better than it is.
For all its considerable problems, the reality is there is a need for a legislative body that provides a sober second look at legislation.
No doubt about it, truckload of really bad legislation gets introduced in the House of Commons. In fact, just this week I read about that awful "snooping" bill that was kicking around.
Remember that one? The Conservative government was pushing for legislation to require Internet companies and telephone companies to hand over all kinds of private information to law enforcement officials, even without a warrant.
Supposedly the government was trying to crack down on child molesters, but the problem was this Internet surveillance legislation would have impacted te law abiding folks, too. It was going to be a big invasion of everyone's privacy. I was happy to hear this unpopular bill was finally killed last week.
But other unworkable, poorly thought-out bills sometimes do make it out of committee and through the House. That should be the point of having a Senate - to finally put a stop to bad ideas before it is too late.
There is a need for a legislative body that will scrutinize bills passed by the House and improve them. There is a need for a chamber more deliberative than the House of Commons is, with all its emotional and partisan carrying-on by MPs during Question Period and elsewhere.
There is value to having a chamber that will take a calmer and more reasoned approach, one that curbs the Commons' excesses.
That is an important and worthy job for a Senate to do. Maybe that is what these Senators are doing, for all I know.
Instead, their legitimacy is continually undermined because people view this current Senate as useless, unaccountable and full of party hacks.
There is an easy fix for this problem: Senate reform. Make it an effective chamber for sober second opinion.
Clean up the rules so these abuses we've seen no longer happen. Hold regular senate elections to fill vacancies in the upper chamber. Instead of appointments until age 75, set shorter terms, but still have terms run longer than for House seats. That will encourage senators to engage in more deliberation and conduct themselves with less fear that they'll lose their jobs in an election.
But because elected senators would have to go back to the people eventually, they'll still have to be accountable. Senators would have motivation to watch their expenses, appear for votes and meet constituents more often.
Furthermore, they'll have a mandate.
I think senate reform and elections would go a long way to address the problems everyone complains about right now - mainly, the issues of accountability and legitimacy.
Apparently, though, my view is in the "vast minority."
For all their talk about senate reform, the Conservative government's efforts have moved at a snail's pace. Moreover, the prime minister keeps undermining the cause by continuing to appoint senators who don't obey rules or are embarrassments - Brazeau is a good example.
The other parties have been no help. The Liberals have not and will not support senate elections. Leadership candidate Justin Trudeau, the same fellow who beat up Sen. Brazeau in a charity boxing match, is on record opposing an elected Senate. As for the NDP, they want the Senate abolished completely.
As for the provinces, Alberta is committed to holding Senate elections and Saskatchewan and British Columbia have shown an interest, but the rest have shown little interest in elections at all.
It makes no sense to me. I keep hearing complaining out of Prince Edward Island because this "Ottawa-based carpetbagger" Mike Duffy was selected to represent them. Yet Prince Edward Island will do nothing about it, because they won't go along with Senate elections.
If these Islanders are as unhappy with Duffy as they say they are, they should put up or shut up. They should agree to senate reform, hold senate elections, and kick Duffy out. But they won't even agree to that.
As for Sen. Wallin and the complaints about her residency status, expense accounts and so on, I have an easy solution: Sen. Wallin should resign.
Then, Premier Brad Wall should call a senate election. Wallin can run, win, and successfully succeed herself in the Red Chamber.
Afterwards, we won't need to listen to any more talk from opponents about Wallin, or the "unelected, unaccountable, ineffective" Senate, anymore.
