There are Two E’s in Senate
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa K1A 0A2
Dear Mr. Harper:
My daughter shares the same initials as me—ECS—which means we’re a double-E household, which is very excellent.
You also have the opportunity to have a double-E household of sorts, Mr. Harper, which would also be excellent.
I’m talking, as I said I would, about the Senate. A double-E senate is that happy second chamber without the falsely democratic characteristic of being elected.
Out here in the hinterlands of your federal riding of Calgary Southwest, many have long longed for a triple-E senate: equal, elected, and effective. A powerful and responsive senate would be western Canada’s voice in confederation.
From a libertarian’s perspective however, a triple-E senate is just one more thing this country doesn’t need, namely another government branch with the power to create law, and thereby doubling the opportunities for gub’ment boondogles.
We’re all agreed that two senators per province and territory is fair, and if we acknowledge that there is even a small role for government in our society, then we should want that government to be effective (within the constraints of the consitution, of course.).
But here is why we can’t have a triple-E senate:
An effective senate serves the role of a stalwart against the intrusion of the federal government into constitutional provincial jurisdiction. Senators will be more inclined to do this if they are appointed to limited terms by provincial governments, making them directly answerable to the provinces.
This was how the American constitution originally set out their bicambrial system, and it worked exactly as described until they foolishly passed the 17th amendment, ushering in the age of elected senatorial pigtrough politics.
Mr. Harper, Canadians are brutally overgoverned. Let’s not make the mistake of adding another layer of fat to parliament’s blubbery mass. The senate should exist to strike down overarching legislation from the commons, not to create its own interpretations of meddlesome laws.
My wife—who has no E in her initials—and I may not be done having children, Mr. Harper, but regardless of the eventual number of E’s in my household, let’s agree to keep the senate down to two.
ev · PDDCCCXXVIII
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