To the Legislative Committee, Standing Committee on Law Amendments: 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation believes that allowing New Brunswickers to choose their representatives in the federal Senate is a very significant step in enhancing democracy and accountability in our political system. We support Premier Alward’s announcement in the summer of 2012 in favour of taking this step.

The big winners in this decision are New Brunswick taxpayers.

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.  In short, this is a huge step for democracy and accountability and the government 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 bill 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. 

The Harper government introduced 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. 

While our group strongly supports this bill, we would like to recommend one change: 

We believe Senate elections should be held at the earliest opportunity, in conjunction with either Municipal or Provincial Elections. 

We make this recommendation for two reasons: 

1)The Harper government has shown that if New Brunswick does not hold Senate elections in a timely manner, it will appoint senators. 

If the government sticks to its current timetable and all senators serve out their entire mandate, then the federal government will appoint two more senators prior to when this bill comes into force, and Senate elections wouldn’t be held until 2020 as there will not be any vacant seats in 2016. 

If the government is serious about Senate reform then it should hold elections at the earliest possible moment.  The next opportunity will be in the 2014 provincial election. 

2)Elections held during provincial elections are cheaper than ones held during municipal elections. At a time when the province is looking to save money to combat its debt and spending problems the government should be looking at every avenue to lower costs. 

In Alberta, it has been shown that Senate elections held in conjunction with Provincial elections cost less than half of those held during municipal elections. Alberta spent $3.2 million on Senate elections held in conjunction with the municipal ballot in 1998 (Edmonton Journal, June 26th 1998) and $1.6 million on Senate elections held with the provincial election in 2004 (Globe and Mail, Feb 18th 2012). 

There are some that suggest the Senate should be abolished. Our group certainly has sympathy for this position. However, given Canada’s constitutional amendment formula, and the current political situation, it is not realistic to believe that is a possibility. Therefore, we believe that New Brunswick should fully use the power that it is afforded within Canada’s Senate. 

Our group applauds the government’s leadership in introducing this bill. We do however believe New Brunswickers should elect their Senate at the earliest possible opportunity. We encourage you to take this opportunity to empower New Brunswick and improve accountability to taxpayers. 

Sincerely, 

Kevin Lacey 

Atlantic Director 

Canadian Taxpayers Federation

877-909-5757

[email protected]