Essay On Abolishing The Federal Government

Edmund Burke once said, "A state without the means of some change is without the means of its conservation." (Burke 36) A country 's constitution needs mechanisms in place to make amendments because as progress is made the landscape of a country is altered. Times change and people change. Constitutions are stories nations tell about themselves (Adams 3), how they wish to protect their citizens and how it must "provide more than a legal blueprint for governance" (Adams 2) In Eric Adams article, Canadian Constitutional Identities, he explains that a Constitution has to do more than be the highest law of the land, for it to work it needs to "be felt as well as comprehended, a constitution that engaged the intellect, but, more importantly, stirred

The Harper government agreed that because it would only alter the powers of the Senate that then it should only have to be passed federally. (458) The government ruled against them and said they would need to use the general amending formula. (459) Abolishing the Senate would fundamentally change Canada 's constitutional structure by removing its bicameral system (Synder 4) In Synder 's summary of the case she states, "the Prime Minister may make significant changes to the powers of the Senate and the number of senators, it "[can]not strip the Senate of its powers and reduce its number of members to zero." (Synder 4) In doing so, it would change the complexity of the Parliament of Canada and possibly hinder the

In class, we have briefly discussed Western alienation from being poorly represented in a Senate that is heavily loaded with Ontario and Quebec interests. Pierre Trudeau had a vision that all of Canada would be united as one and that no matter what province you are from, you are Canadian, and you will receive the best quality of life. If only it were that simple, The West has been taken for granted and as a Senate reform option, there should be more representation from Western provinces. In fact, there is a reform called the "Triple E-Senate", which would "provide better representation for Canadians who lived outside of Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces, and provide a check on the extraordinary powers that our system confers on majority governments" (Kline 1) "Triple E" stands for "Elected, Effective and Equal" (Gibson 17) From that definition one can interpret that the West is looking to change the selection process of Senators. Instead of nominations, they would rather the Senators are voted in, which could subject them to the Government of the day. The "Triple E Senate wishes to have Western provinces interest and ideas at the heart of the executive branch. Canada uses those provinces for oil profits but rarely do they have as much representation as Ontario based Senators. "As it stands, Quebec and Ontario each have 24 seats — the same as the four Western provinces combined. Atlantic Canada, with just 7% of the population, holds a disproportionate 29% of