Stephen Harper is talking Senate reform.... AGAIN..... BWAHAHAHA

Stephen Harper first came to power on the promise of ethics, accountability and Senate reform and what did we get for electing him, no ethics, no accountability and more Senate corruption than at any time in Canadian history.

Oh! He did reform the Senate; what most Canadians, including the opposition parties, don't realize is that for the past 4 plus years they have experienced what Canada would be like without a Senate. By stacking the present Senate with a group of clapping seals who blindly do the bidding of our fascist Prime Minister it is as if the Senate did not exist.

If it were not for the transgressions of a few we wouldn't even know they were there.

So here we are in an election year and Stephen Harper has raised the issue or reform, again. At least he is not chanting about ethics and accountability, not with his record of corrupting the electoral process or his redacting of Access to Information documents or his refusal to provide information to the Parliamentary Budget Office.

So why the renewed interest in Senate reform? Could it be an attempt to distract the voter from his failed economic plan or could it be a desperate cry for votes by an incompetent individual who was never ready to be Prime Minister and who will lie, cheat and deceive to get his way.

So what have we learned from this Prime Ministers abuse of power?

- First of all we have learned that Senator selection SHOULD NOT be in the hands of the ruling party. PERIOD.

- Second a stacked Senate is the same as no Senate.

- Third, an elected Senate is definitely not the answer especially after years of watching how the American system of an elected Senate is so dysfunctional and corrupted by lobbyists.

So what is the best way to reform the senate?

Senators should be nominated by the Province they live in and represent and the Federal government should have no say in the final selection.

Senators should have term limits of not less than 16 years nor more than 25 allowing them to work with more than one Federal party and to fulfill the needs of the people and not the whims of any one party.

Appointees should be vetted by an independent civilian committee before being sworn in. The committee should consist of a group of legal experts, academics and corporate executives representative of each Province. They should meet and sit during the vetting process only.

The number of Senators for an individual Province should be representative of that Provinces population.

It would require the re-opening of the constitution but with the Provinces having a greater say and population growth and decline being a factor as to the number of Senators each Province has i believe it would be an easy sell and truly guarantee the Provinces and the people a say in their future.

The Senate is essential to ensuring the integrity of Parliament

- Partisanship is impossible to avoid since it is what makes us different and stronger however by having the selection in the hands of the Provinces the Senators must come to a consensus as to what they feel is best for their Province AND the country.

- Longer minimum terms with a maximum limit would make it harder for partisan interests to be a factor since Provincial politics and elections varies greater than Federal politics.

- It should be a criminal offense for lobbyists to lobby, solicit or entertain a Senator.

- Senators should divest themselves of corporate ownership by turning control over to a trust to ensure they have no conflicts. Senators must abstain from a vote where they may have a vested interest, failure to do so should result in expulsion from the Senate.

Stephen Harper cannot pass the buck, the failures of the Senate rest fully on his shoulders and those of the Conservative party. Both have been complicit in the uses and abuses of Senators.

- It is Stephen Harper who appointed and stacked the Senate with individuals who did not belong there.

- It is Stephen Harper who did not vet his appointees.

- It is Stephen Harper who used his appointees for partisan purposes at taxpayer expense.

- It is Stephen Harper who controlled the Senate making them an extension of parliament.

The CPC condoned the use of Senators to travel the country, at taxpayer expense, when caught with their hands in the till the CPC offered to cover those expenses they considered partisan but declined when they found out how much was partisanship and how little was on behalf of the taxpayer.

By taking the Federal government out of the equation we can avoid having the "Corporate Party of Canada" infiltrating Canadian politics and corrupting the Senate.