Is this a secret Harper plot to reform the Senate?

[g_bambino]

Randomly drafting child molesters and rapists into the Senate? No thank you, I don't want that.

Since when did rapists and child molestors serve on juries?

Still, the idea is silly.

[eyeball]

The senate should be like jury duty. You get randomly drafted into it. That way the house of sober second thought truly is a random sample from across Canada with no specific political, business, or populist agenda.

Yep, that's the ticket.

[eyeball]

Since when did rapists and child molestors serve on juries?

Still, the idea is silly.

You say that about every idea.

[g_bambino]

You say that about every idea.

Every silly one, yes.

[eyeball]

You've heard good arguments for reform that you didn't automatically write-off?

[August1991]

Not the hidden agenda thingy again.

Sort of hidden.

Before becoming PM, Trudeau openly spoke about "creating counterweights".

Before becoming PM, Harper openly spoke about "incrementalism".

I think that Harper has learned from Trudeau's first government: "Philosopher king" doesn't work. And I suspect that Harper has also learned from Mulroney's Meech Lake/Free Trade/GST approach to change: "Rolling the dice" is risky.

I suspect that Harper prefers the Trudeau approach: create counterweights and let the public debate criticize government to move in the desired incremental direction.

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IMHO, with Harper, it's all about controlling the public agenda - and possibly shifting it, incrementally. (As an aside, in game theory of voting outcomes, the person who controls the order of votes decides often the ultimate result.)

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Nevertheless, Harper's in a tight spot. His party is never above 40% but he has a core support of about 30%. He fortunately faces a divided opposition in urban English Canada, and an unpredictable opposition in Quebec. He has a year or two of peace before he has to face seriously these questions.

If I were in Langevin Block and he asked my opinion? Traditionally, appeasing Quebec voters bootstraps voters in English-Canada. That's Canada, and it would be risky to do otherwise. Canada is a successful federal state.

Edited March 12, 2013 by August1991

[Jerry J. Fortin]

The Governor General, a figurehead with an actual function and a paid for job. Hand picked, long term employment with an all inclusive deal providing classy accommodations and your own golf course. The Senate is a job for life, these are known things.

There is only one way to change the Senate without legislation and that is to appoint people who are about to drop dead anyway to vacant positions. The Government can encourage current senators to retire using incentives. Use the options we have to empty the seats, Filling them back up is another story, but it is relatively simple to empty them.