Wynne, Couillard say abolishing Senate without provinces’ consent would spell trouble

In a salvo mostly aimed at federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, both Phillipe Couillard and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said such a unilateral move would open a Pandora’s Box of problems for the whole country.

Thestar.com
Sept. 11, 2015
By Robert Benzie

Canada risks being plunged into a debilitating unity crisis if a future prime minister tries to abolish the Senate, warns Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard.

In a salvo mostly aimed at federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, both Couillard and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said such a move - even after seeking consent of the provinces to reopen the Constitution - would open a Pandora’s box of problems for the whole country.

“The abolition of the upper chamber is totally contrary to Quebec’s interests and I will always object to that. I don’t see how a federal government could do this on its own,” the staunchly federalist Quebec premier said here Friday at a joint cabinet meeting with Ontario ministers.

“It cannot be done without the provinces-changing or abolishing, whatever you want to say - and without a constitutional conference, during which we will have other topics to discuss.”

Such a discussion would mean revisiting the divisive issues that dominated the 1987 Meech Lake Accord and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord, the failed bids to get Quebec to sign the Constitution.

“I will not initiate myself demands for a constitutional conference. It would be a very serious mistake on my part because it would put Quebec in a very weak situation,” said Couillard.

“Quebec would only participate if its traditional demands are also on the table and these demands are well known,” he said, referring to his province’s call to be recognized as a “distinct society” with additional powers.

Couillard also said that undermining the Senate by stealth through not naming senators is a non-starter.

“Some leaders have said they will not appoint senators anymore, which is a way of doing indirectly what you cannot do directly, which I also object to.”

Wynne mocked Mulcair for suggesting any federal deficit could be eliminated by scrapping the Senate.
“It’s a bit of magical thinking. It’s unrealistic. It’s not rooted in what would actually have to happen. There would have to be a national discussion,” she said.

Mulcair has insisted that an NDP win on Oct. 19 would give him a mandate to begin the process of eliminating the upper house.

He also told the CBC earlier this week that “the Senate is going to have to realize there’s a government that’s just been elected with, I would hope, a majority in the house of commons,” so laws will have top be passed even though there are no NDP senators because the party opposes the patronage body.

“When that legislation is ... adopted by the people who have been put there by Canadian voters, they’re going to be given the legislation and asked to pass it so it can be promulgated into law.”

Talk of Senate changes overshadowed the memorandums of understanding the two provincial governments signed here, which will see Ontario buying more Quebec electricity and working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.