Prime Minister Stephen Harper shakes hands with former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers at Laval University in Quebec on Aug. 27, 2009.MATHIEU BELANGER/Reuters
Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister, was right to fill nine vacancies in the Senate yesterday, though he should also work harder toward making it into an elected chamber. The Senate is in any case part of the Canadian form of government. The Constitution established, and continues to require, a bicameral Parliament. The Senate should be enabled to function, not left to wither away.
Moreover, it is wholly reasonable to appoint some senators with partisan affiliations. Active political participation in a representative democracy usually involves the choice of one party over another. With such participation comes experience in politics and government. The membership of the Senate should not be similar to that of the Order of Canada. Being a senator is an honour, but it is not an honour to mark all distinctions in the whole range of human accomplishment.
The Senate is designed above all to be a reviewing chamber, providing "sober second thought," as Sir John A. Macdonald put it, apparently echoing a passage in the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. Not every senator should be an experienced politician, or indeed a lawyer with skill in reading legislation, but such skills are a valuable part of the mix in such a chamber.
One of the new senators, Dennis Patterson, a former premier of the Northwest Territories, is an interesting case. All premiers there have dispensed with party affiliation. But in most parts of Canada, politicians with experience of governing are partisans.
Of the nine appointees yesterday, at least four - Doug Finley, Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, Don Plett and Linda Frum Sokolowski - have been active in, or for, the Conservative Party. The new senators will diminish but not end the Liberal majority in the Senate. The result is a better balance.
Yet the Senate should be more detached than the House of Commons, and should not consist only of long-time partisans. Senators such as Jacques Demers, with no previous political history, are a valuable addition.
Mr. Demers, a successful NHL coach, has been courageous in encouraging people who hide their illiteracy to come forward and seek help, as he eventually did.
As for Ms. Frum Sokolowski, she is a well known journalist and philanthropist.
Such experiences can be good contributions to Parliament, too.
Complaints about cronyism and "Harpocrisy" in these appointments are misplaced; party allegiance is no disqualification. The opposition should instead work co-operatively with the Conservatives toward an elected Senate.