Canadian government does a lot of stuff right but one thing we adopted from the British which has failed time and time again is Iron clad appointment to the Senate.
Lynn Beyak is the 5th or 6th Senator in the last decade who has come under fire for their complete incompetence and unfit to serve.
but there is little we can do because the Constitution list specific reason for removal and none of them are “incompetence”.
we have a Senator who only shown up to the Senate for a total of two week in seven years.
The system is completely broken and need reform but I don’t think that will ever happen due to the complication of reopening the Constitution.
The current Senate Drama around Lynn Beyak who was ordered to attend “Racial sensitivity” training which she was kick out of for making an unsafe learning environment for other people in the class
i do know that when senators here were appointed by the legislatures and answerable to the states they kept federal encroachment of states authorities in check. Changing that has led to bloated federal government, bloated bureaucracy, and a federal government that usurps states authorities unchecked. biggest mistake we ever made.
in Canada Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister (think Judges)…
but unlike America there are very strict rules in which a Senator can be removed I think there are 4 or 5 reason there is no “impeachment is the sole domain of Congress” the crimes benefiting impeachment are crystal clear and they don’t include incompetence or inability to perform ones duty.
so in theory a Senator simply need to show up to work once two session.
meaning they could simply show up one day vote present and leave for 2-3 years.
one thing I greatly like and dislike about the Canadian Constitution is it goes into great detail about almost every aspect of government the thing is around 90 pages long.
senators cannot be impeached or recalled. they can be kicked out by a vote of the senate. that’s about it. they can do the same here, only go on vacation for 6 years.
In any event, even the United Kingdom is pretty much done with an appointed upper house. I think we will see a major change in the House of Lords during the current Johnson administration and I think it will go so far that it will no longer even be known as the House of Lords, but perhaps as the Senate.
