Canada Needs An Elected Senate That Fairly Represents The West

Enough of allowing PM’s to stack the Senate with their cronies. Our country needs more voting and more democracy.

As the Conservative leadership heats up, it’s essential that any contenders start pushing for a fully elected Senate.

And that Senate must also fairly represent the West.

Currently, the Senate distribution of seats is wildly disproportionate to population.

For example, Prince Edward Island has 4 seats for a population of about 150,000. Meanwhile, Alberta gets just 6 seats, despite a population of over 4.3 million people.

Quebec gets 24 seats, four times Alberta’s total, despite a population that is less than twice as big as Alberta.

That’s why the Senate needs a regional re-balancing.

And it must be elected.

Canada is supposed to be a free and democratic country, and it’s long past time to strip Prime Minister’s of the ability to stack the Senate with their cronies.

Both the Conservatives and Liberals stack the Senate with party supporters, fundraisers, and loyalists, meaning the Canadian People have been deprived of the ability to influence an incredibly powerful part of our government.

Having an elected Senate, where a portion is elected in between elections for the House of Commons, would give the Canadian People a check on the power of a government. For example, if a party gets a majority, but then breaks all their promises, Canadians could vote against them in Senate elections, reducing the power of the majority government and enforcing some democratic punishment for the broken promises.

This is something top Conservative leadership contenders must support, and that Canadians should be demanding. Canada needs more freedom, more democracy, and more voting.

Spencer Fernando