PAGE 4, WITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1990 Soetens calls for abolition of Senate By Mike Kowalski Ontario riding MP Rene Soe- tens wants the Senate abolished. A petition calling for the dem- ise of Parliament's upper house has been drafted by the Progres- sive Conservtive MP. Copies of the petition are available through Soetens' Ajax constituency office. He intends to present the petition to the House of Commons. According te Soetens, recent events in Ottawa prove the Senate has -outlived its useful- ness and attempts at reforming the upper chamber have failed. As a result, the only logical solution is te abolish the non- elected body, says Soetens. "Unless someone comes through with legitimate Senate reform or comes up with a pro- posal te reduce its power, it should be abolished," said Soe- tens. Although Liberal senators' refusal te deal with the govern- ment's goods and services tax (GST) bill has dominated parlia- mentary activity, Soetens said his position was not prompted by this one event. "Prior to 1984 the Senate wor- ked reasonably well. Senators were there on party affiliation but there was no requirement to vote the party line, said Soe- tens. "In 1984 MacEachen deman- ded party affiliation and in my mind that altered the traditional role of the Senate which is to For added elegance in the dining room, invite Rousseau's. .. your dreams. 4 UeAU'& FINE FURNITURE SINCE 1929 216 Mary Street East, Whitby (Just east of Brock St., north of Hwy 2) 668-3483 or Toronto 686-0061 review legislation and make amendments." (Allan MacEachen is leader of the Liberal opposition in the Senate.) Soetens said that after his party formed the government in 1984, Liberal senators began employing the type of partisan tactics which eventuali led to the impasse over the GST. An example was the govern- ment's drug patent legislation which was delayed for almost nine months when it came up for Senate approval three years ago, said Soetens. «The original intent of the Senate was left behind at that time and they didn't return to it."1 In addition to his concern about the Senate losing its "non- partisan" role, Soetens said most proposals he bas seen for reform- ing the Senate reinforce his posi- tion that it should be abolished. In many cases, Ontario would end up the loser, said Soetens. "A group in Alberta says Ontario should be reduced from 24 votes to six while Alberta is left at six. "In principle that's all right but if you combine the four wes- tern provinces they would have 24 and Ontario six, whereas under the current situation we both have 24." Soetens adds that even with an elected Senate, "which I have no problem with," Ontario still loses since smaller provinces would have representation exceeding their portion of the population. He said Ontario already suf- fers from lack of representation through the distribution of seats in the House of Commons and an elected Senate would compound the problem. Soetens said an "average" Member of Parliament from Ontario is supposed to represent 102,000 people. (Soetens himself represents 160,000 people in a riding which encompasses Pickering, Ajax and Whitby.) But an MP from Prince Edward Island represents 30,000 people while one from western Canada represents 65,000, said Soetens. "Their voice in Parliament is already substantially weighted in their favor,» said Soetens. of Commons he does believe his petition will have an effect. "It will make Parliament aware that at least in the case of my constituents, people are not interested in Senate reform at that their expense.» Soetens was not aware of other Conservative MPs circulating petitions in their ridings. Nor had he advised the prime minister or anyone in cabinet of his intentions beforehand. Durham riding MP Ross Ste- venson favors Senate reform yet would accept its demise if most Canadians expressed that desire. However, he doubts it will ha nen. b jn have to remember the Senate was set up for regional purposes, not population pur- poses. I don't think the rest of Canada will go for it," said Ste- venson. According to Stevenson, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney held off making Senate appointments for a few years in the hopes an agreement on reforming the Senate would come forward. When no agreement could be While Soetens acknowledges that the Senate could notbe abolished through a private member's bill passing the House reached Mulroney was forced to appoint more Conservative sena- tors in order to ensure govern- ment legislation is passed said Stevenson. • Whether the Senate's future is as an elected body or an abol- ished institution Stevenson said it will be decided through an evolutionary process requiring public imput and debate. «Although I think the current fiasco will help bring it about faster,"said Stevenson. One proposal that Stevenson said will never work in Ontario is election of senators on a pro- vince-wide basis. t "Can you imagine the cost for individual carrying out an elec- tion in Ontario? "Unless you're a multi-mil- lionaire or have tremendous backing from lobby groups you wouldn t have a prayer. Stevenson uses the United States Senate as an example. "They're all millionaires-plus and I believe the figures show that 98 per cent get re-elected. I'm not sure that's what Cana- dians want." Stevenson proposes Bill C-338 A -bill to standardize the way dates and times are written has been proposed in Parliament by Ross Stevenson, Durham MP. In presenting his Bill C-338 for first reading in the House of Commons, Stevenson pointed out that when a date is written in numbers, it can be difficult to tell which number is the day and which is the month. "After the year 2000," he stated, "we can see a situation when the date would be written 02/03/04, and it would be hard to tell which is the date, the month or the year." He noted that Canadian and international standards organiza- tions have been pressing for universal adoption of a consistent method of giving dates and times. In accordance with their recommendations, Bill C-338 would have dates when written numerically in the order: year, month and day. For example, Nov. 9, 1991, would be written 91/11/09. Time would be shown on the 24-hour clock system, giving hour, minute and seconds. Thus, twelve and one-halfminutes after six p.m. would be written 18:12:30. Stevenson explained that there is now no national legislation or agency with jurisdiction over such matters, and that in some cases such as daylight saving, the decision is enacted by provincial and municipal governments. 'I believe this Bill would end much present confusion," he told the House of Commons. q4 Now you're Z% just steps away. Now quick and easy deposits, withdrawals, transfers and bil payments are just steps away. ' e Step up to banking made simple at this newest Green Machine location! You can use gf8O0 The Green Machine* to make a withdrawal; a cash or cheque deposit, to transfer money between TD accounts, or to pay any bill normally paid at your branch. 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