Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 25, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A8 A 8 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2015 CANADA winnipegfreepress. com O TTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he will not appoint a single senator unless the premiers figure out a way to make the upper chamber elected and accountable to Canadians. For more than a year, including during the recent release of an audit of Senate expenses that identified 30 senators who had made ineligible claims for travel and hospitality, Harper has ignored calls to move on Senate reform, saying the Supreme Court said it requires constitutional reform, and nobody is interested in that. But Friday afternoon, in a news conference in Regina with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, Harper said he's now putting pressure on the premiers to work on a plan for reform, or barring that, a plan to abolish it. " We will have a moratorium on further Senate appointments," Harper said, standing next to Wall, who has been the most vocal premier about the need to abolish the Senate. " They've got a chance. The ball is in their court." He said he won't appoint new senators as long as legislation can still be passed. The vacancies in the Senate won't cause a problem for that for many years. He noted the Senate already saves $ 6 million a year because of 22 vacancies, and those savings will only grow. Canadians don't care that there are vacancies in the Senate, he added. " The vacancies will continue to rise, and other than some voices to the Senate and some people wanting to be appointed to the Senate, nobody is going to complain," he said. Harper pledged 11 years ago to never appoint an unelected senator, but after he was elected prime minister in 2006, he immediately appointed Quebec lawyer Michael Fortier to the Senate and to cabinet. He has appointed 59 senators since 2006, three of whom were elected in Alberta Senate elections. The rest were appointees including a long list of Conservative staff, party officials, failed candidates and fundraisers. Harper hasn't appointed any senators since 2013, when the expense scandal in the Senate engulfed his government. Harper made half- hearted attempts to reform the Senate but eventually asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on what the federal government could do. In April 2014, the high court ruled to abolish the Senate, Harper needed the agreement of all 10 provinces, and to make substantive reforms such as elections and term limits, he'd need a constitutional amendment that requires approval of at least seven provinces representing 50 per cent of the population or more. The provinces have never agreed about the way forward. Quebec and Ontario don't want it abolished. Manitoba has long advocated for abolition and in 2013 passed a resolution asking Harper to gather premiers to make a plan to move on that. Wall backed Harper's call for an appointment moratorium Friday. Manitoba Conservative Sen. Don Plett declined to comment, and Manitoba Liberal Sen. Maria Chaput's spokeswoman said Chaput wanted to wait until next week to comment. Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger said Friday any action on the Senate should not divert attention from Canada's struggling economy. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said Harper is talking about the Senate now to distract from poor economic news and said he doesn't believe Harper won't appoint more people to the Senate. " Mr. Harper has made this promise before," said Trudeau. " He broke it 59 times." Trudeau advocates for an independent appointments process and non- partisan senators as reforms that can be made without constitutional talks. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair advocates for abolition. Selinger said the nation's ailing economy should get equal, if not more, attention than the Senate. " We have to be careful that that issue doesn't take our focus away from the economy right now," he said. " We all know that the economy is really struggling at the moment. Technically, there is a recession out there. " The Senate issue, it's always a good discussion point - nobody really likes it - but at the end of the day we need a government that's focused on growing the economy and making sure that people work." - with files from Bruce Owen mia. rabson@ freepress. mb. ca ' The government is not going to take any actions going forward that would do anything to further entrench that unelected, unaccountable Senate' - Prime Minister Stephen Harper ' Manitoba has had a long- standing position on the abolition of the Senate; we welcome the opportunity to work with our provincial counterparts and the federal government at anytime to abolish the Senate' - Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger ' If we simply can't come to an agreement on how this thing can be meaningfully reformed, then surely we must be able to decide that in 2015, this country, the modern democracy that it is, ought not to provide decisionmaking authority to an appointed body' - Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall ' I'm prepared to have a conversation about reforming the Senate, but it must be on the condition that any changes follow the spirit of what was intended when the Senate was established by our forefathers, that smaller provinces continue to have the same voice we have now in the upper chamber' - Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil OTTAWA - The issue of what to do with the Senate continues to pop onto the political radar in advance of the October election. It's sure to flare up even more next month when Sen. Mike Duffy's trial over expense claims is set to resume. Here are five things to know about Canada's so- called chamber of sober second thought: . THE SCANDALS: The Senate has been embroiled in scandal for about three years over allegations of improper housing and travel- expense claims. Three senators were suspended over their expense claims - former Conservatives Patrick Brazeau, Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy - and a fourth, Liberal Mac Harb, resigned. Duffy, Brazeau and Harb have been charged with fraud and breach of trust. Wallin has been under lengthy RCMP investigation but has not been charged. . THE COURT: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in April 2014 that reforming the Senate would require a constitutional amendment approved by at least seven provinces with 50 per cent of the population while outright abolition would require the unanimous consent of the provinces. At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the ruling meant Canada is stuck with the status quo since there's no consensus among provinces on reforming or abolishing the Senate and no appetite to engage in protracted constitutional wrangling. . THE OPPOSITION: Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has proposed creating a blue- chip advisory body to recommend non- partisan nominees to the Senate, which he says could be done without reopening the Constitution and which would restore the Senate to its intended role as an independent chamber. If elected prime minister, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has promised to initiate constitutional talks with the provinces on abolishing the Senate. . THE EMPTY SEATS: There are 22 vacancies in the 105- seat chamber. Harper has not made an appointment in more than two years and issued a moratorium Friday. But the Supreme Court has warned the Senate can not be abolished indirectly by allowing the number of senators to drop to zero. And a Vancouver lawyer has gone to court in a bid to compel Harper to fill Senate vacancies within a reasonable time. . THE COST: It costs almost $ 90 million a year to operate the Senate. That includes the salaries and allowances senators are paid, plus administrative costs. Compare that with the House of Commons, which operates on an annual budget of more than $ 427 million. - The Canadian Press Five things you should know about the Senate They said it MARK TAYLOR / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall at the Saskatchewan legislature in Regina Friday, where Harper announced his moratorium on appointing senators. No reforms, no new senators PM won't appoint new ones until provinces hammer out changes By Mia Rabson EDITORIAL A14 ADRIAN WYLD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES A_ 08_ Jul- 25- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A8 7/ 24/ 15 9: 44: 40 PM ;