By paNOW

Sask. Party members support Brad Wall, want Senate abolished

Jul 9, 2013 | 1:08 AM

According to Premier Brad Wall, the Saskatchwan Party’s new platform is to abolish the Senate.

“We understand that abolishing the Senate is a difficult proposition constitutionally,” said Wall. “It’s arguable no more difficult than reforming it.”

On Monday, the premier released numbers from a referendum held last month where party members were asked if they would be in favour of abolishing the Senate. Eighty-six per cent of the 3,727 polled supported getting rid of the Senate.

Wall said he feel the Senate’s responsibilities of representing the provinces is already being taken care of in the provincial capitals.

“The balance the Senate was to bring in terms of regional representation to the federal government is now being brought by the provincial governments,” Wall said.

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Secondly, Wall said he’s disappointed with the inequality of the Senate, adding what most people in Saskatchewan would want, is a Triple-E Senate (Equal, Elected and Efficient).

“Each province has an equal number of Senators, they are elected and the upper chamber would be effective, that’s simply never going to happen. The other more populous provinces aren’t going to agree to it.”

As it stands, of the 105 Senators in the upper house, Ontario and Quebec each have 24 representatives, whereas Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. have 24 combined. And while many provinces appoint their Senators, if other provinces choose to elect them, we’d be left with a hybrid senate. In the end however, Wall said the Prime Minister has the final say of who to appoint to the Senate.

“So we’ll have this mix of some appointed and some elected and maybe we give the institution credibility for those who are elected, but it makes more sense to abolish rather than do all of that,” Wall said.

And although he denied the case of Senator Mike Duffy’s Senate scandal fueling his case, Wall said he’s been talking about abolishing the Senate since the end of 2012.

Wall added he will be tabling the motion of abolishing the Senate at the National Premier’s Meeting in Ontario later this year.

In order for the Senate to be abolished, Wall needs seven premiers (including him) and at least half the population of Canadian voters on his side. Wall estimates the institution costs taxpayer $100 million each year.

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