In a Saturday afternoon speech to his party’s annual meeting, Premier Alward announced one of the most significant decisions to enhance democracy and accountability in our political system. He is going to allow New Brunswickers to choose their representatives in the federal Senate.  

The big winners in this decision are New Brunswick taxpayers. (Image Canadian Senate: Wikipedia/Xiaphias)

Already the plan has some detractors. Former Liberal Party of Canada leader Stephan Dion says Parliament and individual provinces do not have the right to change the make up of the Senate. Only through negotiations between provinces can that happen.

These are well-known technical arguments and his motives have more to do with protecting Quebec’s power, than a sincere effort to promote democracy. After all an elected Senate will empower Atlantic provinces, making confederation somewhat more equitable.  

For too long, the Senate has been used to reward party loyalists. By taking away the power of party leaders and regional cabinet ministers to appoint members to the Senate, power is returned to voters who can chose candidates who reflect their values and have the skills that they perceive as important.  In short, this is a huge step for democracy and accountability and Premier Alward should be commended for putting those values ahead of the significant perks that appointments carry for political parties.

In order for New Brunswick to be fully represented in national decisions, Senate reform is imperative and this is an important first step. An elected Senate will give New Brunswick the power to have real influence up in Ottawa. In 1867, when the Maritime provinces signed on to confederation with Upper and Lower Canada, one of the main concessions was to empower the Senate to give greater weight to the provinces as a balance to the House of Commons which would more closely represent the people (through representation by population). Over the years, the Senate’s influence decreased. The more heavily populated provinces like Ontario and Quebec began to dominate the smaller ones like the Maritimes. This became an even bigger problem as Canada added new provinces in the west, further diluting the Maritime’s representation in the House of Commons.

Under the current make up of the senate, Ontario, with its population of a little over 13 million people, holds 24 seats; the Maritimes have the same number of senators combined (New Brunswick - 10, Nova Scotia - 10, PEI – 4) despite a combined population of less than two million people.

This year, the Harper government plans to introduce a new bill that will give more House of Commons seats to Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. While the Maritimes keep the number of seats they have in the new bill, their percentage of seats in the House declines. Without changes to the Senate, the political influence of the region will again decline.

New Brunswick’s bold move as the first Atlantic Province to commit to electing Senators may just inject some new momentum into Senate reform. Up until now, the big stumbling blocks for Senate reform have been Eastern Canada. Both Ontario and Quebec refuse any talk of Senate reform, and for years, the Atlantic Provinces showed no interest.

Premier Alward’s leadership on this file is to be commended. Here’s hoping the move by New Brunswick puts pressure on the other three Atlantic Provinces to follow suit.