These objectionable Senatorial behaviours, and especially the salacious nature of Meredith’s misdeeds, have ensured that they receive maximum media coverage. Lost in this process is the fact that Canada now has – for the first time – a Senate in which independent members constitute the largest single group. This new body is a far cry from the Senate of the recent past when Stephen Harper’s PMO directed Conservative Senators on how best to exercise damage control with respect to the Mike Duffy controversy.
The Valuable Work of the Current Senate
The current Senate is increasingly providing the kind of non-political analysis and commentary that demonstrates the important role it can play in our system of government. The recently announced plan to increase free trade across provincial boundaries included several recommendations that were put forth in a June 2016 Senate Committee report Tear Down These Walls: Dismantling Canada’s Internal Trade Barriers. A February 2017 Report from the Senate Standing Committee on National Finance provides a very thoughtful analysis of the major infrastructure investment initiative that has been promised by the Liberal Government to stimulate the Canadian economy. It points out that the government does not have an overall strategy for this infrastructure initiative, one with clear priorities, specific objectives, and performance measures. Instead, there are infrastructure support programs across 31 different government organizations, each with its own priorities, terms and conditions, timelines, and implementation and reporting procedures.
The major new infrastructure initiative of the federal government has great potential but it will only be realized if there is a political commitment to direct these funds where they are most needed and can be most effective – rather than having the funds disbursed on grounds such as geographic balance or partisan pressures. I addressed my concerns in this regard in a blog over a year ago and the Senate report is an important reminder that these concerns are still very much in the forefront. That report is also an excellent reminder of why Canadians should pay more attention to the actual work being done by the Senate than to the (mis)behaviour of individual Senators.