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On June 28, in response to questions from CBC reporter Rosemary Barton about what he would do with the Senate if he was prime minister, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said he would “appoint people to the Senate who share my goal of lowering taxes and growing the private sector.” “They would be conservative senators who would implement the conservative vision for Canada,” he added.

Scheer seems to want to return Canada to the days of partisan Senate appointments. As a Conservative party member who now sits as an independent senator (because I was too independent for the Conservative Senate caucus), I can say that it would be unfortunate for Canadian democracy if partisan Senate appointments once again prevailed.

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The Canadian Senate is a unique institution that can’t be easily compared with other unelected upper houses around the world. It’s clear from studying the 1867 Constitution, and reading the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2014 Senate Reference, that the primary purpose of our Senate is to offer its “sober second thought” on legislation, as a kind of counter balance to how legislation is created in the House of Commons, where partisanship is a necessary feature.