Canadian Senate

[ice_hesitant]

Comments

[pacotelic]

This thread is all fucked up on Hockey.

[ice_hesitant]

Canada's national summer sport is lacrosse.

[vulturoso]

Appointed for LIFE? That's probably the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. Wow.

You haven't been around very much, have you?

[ed_rex]

If that's the "dumbest thing" you've ever heard, you really need to get out more. And maybe work on your manners. It wasn't that long ago that they were appointed for life, and people do make mistakes.

[vulturoso]

You seem like a really swell person. Thanks for the unsolicited advice.

[ice_hesitant]

In the system's defense, the job of Canadian Senators is to rubberstamp any legislation that the House of Commons passes -- and before ed_rex decides to correct me, to also produce the occasional interesting report, such as the one from 2002 where a Senate committee recommended the legalization of marijuana. Since they don't do anything, the Senate is mostly just a way to give a pension to someone the Prime Minister likes.

Not "for life"

[ed_rex]

Senator's haven't been appointed for life for quite a few years. Retirement age is now 75.

[ice_hesitant]

My bad.

Ignoring certain personal difficulties, the youngest senator is Patrick Brazeau. He was appointed to the Senate in 2009 at the age of 35. This would have given him a term of 40 years.

While mandatory senatorial retirement at 75 spares Canada some indignity, I'm not convinced that the difference between a term of 40 years and a life term is significant.

On significance

[ed_rex]

With the average age around 80, I think there is more than a little significance to the difference. Most 75 year-olds still have all their marbles and, often, a great deal of energy.

95 year-olds, not so often.

But since the Senate, usually, doesn't do much besides rubber-stamp the Commons, I take your point. By and large, it's a handsome reward for party hacks and affront to democracy. (Er, is that your point?)

[dexeron]

[lafinjack]

Let them eat poutine.