Conservatives backtracking on Senate reform

The Canadian Press:

Ottawa - For a generation, Senate reform has been a political touchstone for Conservatives, old-time Reform party types and disgruntled westerners.

The Triple-E Senate — equal, elected and effective — was both a political dogma and a rallying cry.
It helped spur the rise of Reform and the Harper Conservatives who followed. It was the mantra of the right, the path to real equality for the regions.

Not so much anymore. The fire has gone out of the argument and dyed-in-the-wool supporters are questioning the whole idea.

Roger Gibbins, who steps down later this month as president and CEO of the Canada West Foundation, joins Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and former Stephen Harper campaign strategist Tom Flanagan among influential westerners who've come to the conclusion Senate reform — as currently envisioned — is either unnecessary or misguided.

The dissenting chorus comes with the "Holy Grail" of Senate reform closer to reality than ever, as Conservative majorities in both the House of Commons and the Senate can fast-track any legislation they consider a priority.

Yet a government bill that would limit senators to a single nine-year term and encourage provincial Senate elections is meandering, at best, through the legislative process.

While Tim Uppal, Harper's minister of democratic reform, calls Bill C-7 "one of my top priorities," it's hard not to get the sense that Senate reform has lost its mojo.

"If we have a Senate that's elected and effective to some degree — but the seat distribution doesn't change — then we're into a situation where an elected Senate may be detrimental to the interests of the West," said Gibbins.

That Gibbins is repeating the very arguments made by former Liberal intergovernmental affairs minister Stephane Dion is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

As recently as April 10, the foundation he still leads was mocking Dion in print for his continued warnings about half-baked Senate tinkering.

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