What is happing to canadian democracy?
I am describing the Quebec view. The two nations view of Canada is the main Quebec view. This is why a triple-e senate is a non-starter to Quebec. This is why sovereignty-association is a popular option. There is still unhappiness over the successful efforts to stamp out French outside Quebec, particularly in Manitoba. This is why Quebec does not have a Conservative Party - the Conservatives lost again and again and again until it merged with a group of Quebec nationalist Liberal dissidents to form the Union Nationale. The Conservatives couldn't win in Quebec at all federally except for when the UN, at the height of its power, delivered it to Diefenbaker in 1958 and the "repatriation of the constitution" that offended the Quebec nationalists and Brian Mulroney's cultivation of said nationalists. The Quebec separatists argued that free trade was an excellent way to break up Canada which is why they backed Mulroney in '88...
The whole point of the US Senate is to represent regions equally... that may work in a place like the US or Australia but not in a country like Canada.
Taking the parallel with the US south further, if the Riel hanging and the Manitoba schools was like the "northern aggression" and abolition of slavery that shut the Republicans out of the South for 100 years, the repatriation of the constitution controversy and the so-called "night of the long knives" was like the civil rights act that tarnished the Liberal image in Quebec as the Civil Rights Act damaged the Democrats in the South in the 1960s.
sartresue
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The whole point of the US Senate is to represent regions equally... that may work in a place like the US or Australia but not in a country like Canada.
Taking the parallel with the US south further, if the Riel hanging and the Manitoba schools was like the "northern aggression" and abolition of slavery that shut the Republicans out of the South for 100 years, the repatriation of the constitution controversy and the so-called "night of the long knives" was like the civil rights act that tarnished the Liberal image in Quebec as the Civil Rights Act damaged the Democrats in the South in the 1960s.
Not the King of Pop topic
This is why Stephen Harper's Popular Front type of minority government is not going to work here.
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Radiant Aspergian
Awe-Tistic Whirlwind
Phuture Phounder of the Philosophy Phactory
NOT a believer of Mystic Woo-Woo
I am not persuaded that a triple-e Senate is a necessary answer on Senate reform. Provincial boundaries are entirely artificial constructs--based on geographical and demographic factors, but arbitrary nonetheless.
I think, perhaps, we need to come to a consensus about what we envision the role of an enhanced Senate to be before we turn to the question of its composition and method of selection.
For example, do we want a Senate that is co-equal with the House? I suspect not, but if we elect a Senate without curtailing its power, then that is precisely what we will have.
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--James
