Is the luxury of having an upper house worth the $2 per Canadian it costs to support the Senate? Senator Sharon Carstairs thinks so, and she believes that if we understood the role of the Senate, we might think so too. Although she concedes some reforms should be implemented in the method of appointment, and the disparity of provincial representation, she stresses the importance for the long-term, non-partisan outlook senators bring to the contents of a bill, and not the political dynamics. Senate reform was the first topic of Senator Carstairs’ speech to over 300 people attending Creative Retirement’s gala luncheon, October 26, at the Canad Inn, Polo Park.
The festive crowd included Muriel Smith, former cabinet minister with the provincial NDP government, who introduced the speaker, and reminisced about days when they sat on opposite sides of the house in the provincial legislature. Senator Carstairs said the legislative function of senators is to examine and assess any piece of legislation that has been through three readings and committee stage in the House of Commons, and either approve or amend it. If it is amended in the senate, it must return to the House for its approval of the amendments. Experience in particular areas of study and freedom from party lines, put senators in an ideal position for judicious evaluation.
“But for many senators, the most important work they do is the advocacy work they perform on behalf of individuals or groups whose cause they deem to be just and whose voice has not been sufficiently heard,” Senator Carstairs said. The two causes to which Sharon Carstairs has dedicated herself have been to the issue of family violence and the cause of hospice and palliative care. Speaking with passion and sincerity, she said that she considers the progress in these two areas during the past 10 years have been “the most positive achievements of my political career.”
“I am not alone,” she said, adding that other individual senators have championed many causes including the removal of land mines, the rescue of war-affected children, the cause of the Metis people, the living conditions of the families of the military and veterans, literacy, and many other causes. They work behind the scenes, often on a full time basis, to effect real change. “Should the Seante be abolished?” Ms. Carstairs asked. “No, I do not thing so. Should it be reformed so that it better reflects Canada in the 21st Century? Yes it should.”
How, she said, was an issue for another day.
by Lois Francis
