this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
22 points (92.3% liked)

Canada

7413 readers
426 users here now

What's going on Canada?



Related Communities


🍁 Meta


πŸ—ΊοΈ Provinces / Territories


πŸ™οΈ Cities / Local Communities

Sorted alphabetically by city name.


πŸ’ SportsHockey

Football (NFL): incomplete

Football (CFL): incomplete

Baseball

Basketball

Soccer


πŸ’» Schools / Universities

Sorted by province, then by total full-time enrolment.


πŸ’΅ Finance, Shopping, Sales


πŸ—£οΈ Politics


🍁 Social / Culture


Rules

  1. Keep the original title when submitting an article. You can put your own commentary in the body of the post or in the comment section.

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage: lemmy.ca


founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The move would allow him to leave a mark on Parliament for years to come, as these unelected legislators will be able to sit until the age of 75.

A source familiar with the matter says that the selection process for the future senators is already underway and should be completed before his departure. After proroguing Parliament earlier this month, Trudeau announced that he will leave power after the Liberal Party chooses a new leader on March 9.

In a written response, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed that the advisory board for Senate appointments is at work to propose candidates for all vacancies.

top 22 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

***This comment was based on the previous headline -- Trudeau plans on stacking Senate before retiring: source

What a stupid headline. Insinuating that Trudeau is the only PM doing this is beyond the pale ... because every former PM has done the same.

This is setting aside the fact that the Senate, being appointed rather than elected, has almost always set aside partisan politics in order to act as a check on the current parliament.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The headline has since been changed:

Trudeau to fill Senate vacancies before retiring: source

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Thanks for the heads up.

[–] johnefrancis 22 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Sounds good to me. No point leaving a bunch of open senate seats for some future govt to fill.

I look forward to Trudeau's many non-partisan senators to blocking a future attempt by Poilievre to bypass the charter of rights using the notwithstanding clause federally. The senate would be right to reject that when conservatives try to advance attacks on whatever marginalized group they want blame for their own failings (probably transgendered people).

The senate would be right to reject that.

[–] Sunshine 6 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Please use the term transgender people.

[–] Arkouda -2 points 3 days ago

Please use the term "Transsexual" for those transitioning medically from Male to Female or Female to Male who wish to be seen as Men or Woman, and "Non Binary" for those who don't like being referred to by certain pronouns.

Lumping in people against the social construct of gender with people who require surgery and hormone therapy to avoid negative outcomes like self harm is ignorant at best, and clearly destructive at worst.

Thanks!

[–] Splitdipless 14 points 3 days ago

In 2015, Stephen Harper swore he wouldn't make any senate appointments. He appointed 59.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago

Fucking good. Don't let them do what they did the US.

[–] wise_pancake 1 points 3 days ago

Opposition party: I am once again advocating for Senate reform

PM: You'll get your turn, don't worrry

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Business as usual for a system that allows Senators without term limits. Until we get them this keeps happening on all sides.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Please explain the issues you see, and provide supporting evidence, concerning no term limits for senators.

[–] HikingVet 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

From the government website. It says that they have a mandatory retirement at 75 but the only other way they leave office is if they decide to.

There are no defined terms. You get appointed then you either leave or retire at 75.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Okay. And what are the problems you see with that?

[–] HikingVet 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Seriously? Unelected officials having veto power over legislation?

Fuck is wrong with you?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Because electing someone in no way, shape or form means that they're any more competent or honorable than someone who's appointed.

The Senate is there to keep the gov't from doing whatever it wants. It weighs the value of legislation against how it would affect citizens and the Charter.

Just wondering if you have the same issues with judgeships that are appointed across the board in Canada.

[–] HikingVet 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You asked about the term limits which are not defined.

You asked what an issue with how we have our senators, (them being unelected).

How does a body who votes on legislation who are unaccountable to the general public a good thing?

What ifs about their competency are not a rebuttal, but showing an issue with the entire system (one that can't be removed).

I would prefer to chance people voting for morons than having appointed (by the then current PM) persons as the last line, regardless of record.

As far as I know judges have a level of competency to qualify, there isn't really much in the guidelines about who can be appointed senator.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You asked about the term limits ...

No I didn't. I asked for the OP to, "Please explain the issues you see, and provide supporting evidence, concerning no term limits for senators."

How does a body who votes on legislation who are unaccountable to the general public a good thing?

They rarely vote on legislation. They do debate complex proposed legislation (often before the HoC debates it, at the request of the HoC) because their schedule is more flexible than the HoC's.

As for accountability I will point to south of the border where most political officers are elected and ask if you think that system is better than ours? Because from my 65+ years perspective it is not. Elections can be bought (Elon just did it) and manipulated (re: gerrymandering).

[–] HikingVet 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

You think that an unelected body in the government is better than being able to vote for different representatives?

Pointing to the states is NOT a good example.

What othe country has an unelected body such as our senate?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 days ago

You think that an unelected body in the government is better than being able to vote for different representatives?

It doesn't have to be better, it just has to be not significantly worse (because switching systems incurs a cost, and the expected improvement has to be sufficient to justify that cost). As far as I can tell, the Senate here in Canada hasn't been significantly worse for the population than comparable elected bodies that exist elsewhere in the world. That doesn't mean it couldn't run off the rails in the future, but it could just as easily do that if it were an elected body (which is where the example of the States is relevant).

In general, it's better to leave things that work alone, unless you have a better reason for changing them than, "This doesn't match up with my ideology."

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 days ago

I mean if you want to pay my hourly rate, sure.