Bert Brown has been waiting behind a long line of Liberal hacks who have taken their seats in the Senate with nothing more to recommend them than the Prime Minister's desire to reward faithful service to the party or to appease some particular ethnocultural bloc.
Three times has he run for election to the Senate; twice has he been elected thereto, only to be ignored.
Though the law and the constitution did not forbid the Prime Minister of the day from appointing him to office, he was frozen out by those who did not perceive the need for Senate reform, or chose to fight against it.
Now his long wait for the Senate seat he has merited through his long efforts and championship of transforming the last wholly appointed national legislative body in any Western democracy will be coming to a well-deserved end.
Would that more politicians had the perseverance to achieve their goals this way. Bert Brown was championing a Triple-E Senate when the idea was considered mere constitutional crackpottery by the governing classes.
Now he's finally the most symbolically important step closer to it.
And the anachronism of an appointed Senate is that much closer to passing into the dustbin of history--a House of Lords without the nobility.
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1 comment:
Great move by Harper.
It's obviously long past due that the Senate be, at the very least, filled with elected members.
Even if equal representation is delayed, the elevation of popularly elected senators will give the body the legitimacy needed to balance the Commons.
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