The Senate of Canada: change it, heave it, or leave it?

Change it.

Should the Senate be the rest home for ex-politicians should it be elected to continue to reflect Canada's two constitutional French/English realities along with its ethnic and First Nation Peoples populations. To be effective the Senate could possibly be constituted by no more than 100 provincial/municipal representatives, each elected for a 6-year non-renewable term while on a leave of absence from their permanent job.

Heave it.

Senator Thompson from La Paz, Mexico seems to indicate that Canadians can heave it overboard.

Why? It may not be all that relevant according to him. It seems he sees in its melodramatic response to his chronic absence from the Senate Chamber (for justifiable health reasons) as being "childish" all because of publicity scrutiny by the Press.

Some Senators were apparently, he claims, becoming "obsessed" about having to sit in the Chamber: "Sit there for two minutes." Maybe two minutes of parliamentary boredom is too much to ask from a Senator. Perhaps, he does have a good point. Why even go into the Senate Chamber anyway just to have the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to note your presence and go back out anyway? Why should a Senator come into the Chamber if it is a waste of his time, right? :-) Maybe his point is why should the Senators even bother to sit in the Chamber at all.

As he explained so eloquently about the virtues of being a Senator to an Ottawa newspaper correspondent: "It doesn't matter what you do." (Ha! Ha! Hee! Hee!) In fact, he claims with the merits of modern technology he can operate quite nicely at a distance. (How many Senators would love to be able to operate their Senate office from some resort like Cancun after a few tequilas or Margaritas?) ;-)

In the rush to get him ejected he was quite surprised and reportedly said: "I don't think anybody looked at my work. That surprised me ... " WORK!?

If the Auditor's report on rampant administrative financial mismanagement and irresponsibility means no one ever gets to spend time behind bars, then why not have the Senators work where they want to, when they care to, doing God-only-knows-what. Does it matter? Oh, to be able to put your hand into the Public Purse and not have to count the cost!

Leave it.

Maybe fellow Canadians could encourage the Senators to take one of those very long, reflective, sober walks and not look back while they walk the dog right out of the Senate doors on their way to La Paz, Mexico to join their colleague on government business.

Here are a few choice lines lines from a song entitled, "Walking my dog down in Mexico" composed by Mr. Thornhill, 38, a roving troubadour, here in Ottawa regarding the absurdity of it all:

Yes, I've earned my reward /

in that geriatric ward./

From the Senate of our nation /

I have taken a vacation.

The natives here I do bless /

they understand I'm under stress. /

They don't even yell and shoot/ ...

Now I'm walking my dog down in Mexico /

Mexico, Mexico

It's a pretty tough job /

but someone's got to log /

all these miles of beach down in Mexico.

If it's broke ... and you can't fix ... , LEAVE IT. :-)

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Updated: September 1, 1998