A historic hearing took place at the Supreme Court of Canada this week, as all the partners to the Canadian federation battled it out over the future of the nation’s upper house. The Reference was initiated by the federal government seeking the Court’s advice with respect to four issues: enacting term limits for Senators (who currently serve until age 75); instituting “consultative elections” into the process by which Senators are appointed (which, at the moment, occurs at the discretion of the Governor General bound by convention to the Prime Minister’s choice); removing the rule that at the time of appointment Senators must own real property valued at $4000; and abolishing the Senate entirely.
Because I have amazing students, I was fortunate to be present for most of the hearing, enabling me to live-tweet and engage with the assembled lawyers and media. I did Canada AM and two appearances on CTV’s Power Play (sadly, unarchived).
Here is a later column I wrote for National magazine: