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West in for disappointment on early Senate reform - Wednesday, July 23, 2003 at 10:17

West in for disappointment on early Senate reform if Martin heads government
 
ALEXANDER PANETTA  
Canadian Press
http://www.canada.com/search/story.aspx?id=207eb4cf-0b69-453c-8b18-b18bbd30438f 

Tuesday, July 15, 2003
 
OTTAWA (CP) - Paul Martin has no intention of reforming the Senate anytime soon if he becomes prime minister, aides said Tuesday, a stand that could hamper plans for a Liberal breakthrough in the West.

The Liberal leadership front-runner says he still agrees philosophically with the longstanding Western dream of a so-called Triple-E Senate. But that vision of an elected, equal and effective upper chamber would require constitutional changes for which the country has no appetite, a Martin aide said.

"Achieving meaningful Senate reform will require constitutional change and Mr. Martin has said that's not a priority for Canadians right now," said spokesman Brian Guest.

"It's therefore not a priority for him. His priorities are health care and education."

Martin is also against senate reforms without changing the constitution. Such cosmetic changes would do nothing to repair regional disparities in the upper chamber, Guest said.

The decades-old Senate reform movement received a feeble boost with reports that Prime Minister Jean Chretien might appoint senators from lists provided by the provinces.

But one spokeswoman for the prime minister threw cold water on the notion that Senate changes might be part of Chretien's legacy agenda.

"This is not something we're looking at or considering," said Frederique Tsai.

"There's no plan to change the actual process."

Martin said Tuesday he's willing to hear proposals for a provincially driven Senate - but he didn't sound anxious to get the ball rolling.

He invited premiers to discuss the issue themselves first under their new interprovincial alliance, the Council of the Federation.

"I think the whole issue of Senate reform is one that obviously has to be considered very, very seriously," Martin said at a charity golf event.

"If you want to have real Senate reform, that (a provincially engineered Senate) is maybe one of the things that can be discussed by the new council.

"Then we'll have to see how it all evolves."

Senators are currently named by the prime minister and can sit until age 75 in the upper chamber, where they give final approval to laws passed in the House of Commons.

Critics have long argued that current appointment methods have created a system rife with political cronyism, where the Senate merely rubber-stamps government legislation.

They also say that fast-growing regions like the West are proportionally under-represented in the upper chamber.

Of the 99 current senators, only five hail from Alberta and fewer than two dozen come from provinces west of Ontario.

Western provinces make up almost one-third of Canada's population but account for less than one-quarter of the current body of senators.

Polls have suggested a Martin-led Liberal party would make inroads in the West, which is currently dominated by the Canadian Alliance.

Hopes for a Triple-E senate were dashed in 1992, when attempts at constitutional and senate reform were massively rejected in a nationwide referendum.

Few political leaders anywhere in the country have even dared mention constitutional reform since.