NDP asks for referendum to abolish senate
Posted February 28, 2011 8:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA, Ont- The NDP is proposing that Canadians should vote in a special referendum to determine whether or not to abolish the Senate, with the hope it can happen as soon as the next federal election.
The Vancouver Sun reports that the proposal is contained in a motion calling for the government to amend the Referendum Act, and it will be debated Tuesday in the House of Commons.
NDP leader Jack Layton has been focusing a lot of his attacks on the upper chamber, noting that Senate members Irving Gerstein and Doug Findley – appointed by Harper himself – are among the senior party officials charged by Elections Canada with having the Conservative party go beyond its spending limits in the 2006 election.
Abolishing the Senate is not an easy task because it would require a constitutional amendment.
Some experts believe this would require the consent of all 10 provinces, the House of Commons, and the Senate itself.
