Prime minister Stephen Harper last week promised to move quickly on a longtime promise to organize Senate elections, whether the provinces agree or not.
He told reporters that by the time his minority government falls and a new national election is called, expected in 2007 or 2008, he wants to be able to fill vacancies by vote.
But on another bedrock Reform-Alliance-Conservative promise to get rid of the long gun registry, Harper said it could be difficult in this minority Parliament with all three opposition parties in favour of the registry.
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He told reporters March 1 that the Conservatives are “studying our options” on the gun registry but there will not be a vote that forces the issue in a Parliament they do not control.
“I do not intend to hold a vote unless we are clear that we can win this vote,” Harper said.
However, other ministers have suggested there may be ways to effectively end the registry without a vote, including a regulatory change to declare an amnesty for non-compliance.
Public security minister Stockwell Day has told reporters Canadians will be shocked when they are told the real costs of the decade-old registry.
At the least, Conservatives with access to the books can use the parliamentary forum to further undermine the credibility of the Liberal-created registry, one of the political divides between rural and urban Canada.
Meanwhile, the prime minister signalled that he will be more decisive on the Senate election issue.
He said he already has raised the issue with provincial premiers, some of whom are reluctant to go along. Some want provincial control of Senate appointments and Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty favours abolishing the Senate because his province is severely under represented in that house.
“It is my intention, it was a commitment in the platform, to begin the process of reforming the Senate and begin it by creating an electoral process for the nomination of senators. I do intend to do that,” said Harper.
“I raised it with the premiers in general terms. We haven’t set timelines but it’s something I would like to get on with sooner rather than later, and I would expect that no later than the next federal election we will have a senatorial election process in place.”
When it was suggested the provinces must be involved in Senate reform since it would require constitutional change, the prime minister disagreed. Fundamental reform would require federal-provincial agreement, including agreement by the Senate, but the prime minister can decide how he chooses senators under existing rules.
“Today the decision on who to name to the Senate is a power exercised exclusively by the prime minister,” said Harper.
“The prime minister can choose to create an electoral process and he can choose to do so simply at the federal level, particularly if we were to hold Senate elections say at the time of federal elections. So while I obviously would like to see the co-operation of the provinces, it’s a commitment our government’s made to pursue Senate elections and that’s something we believe we can do from Ottawa.”
