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Sen. Peter Harder’s recently released paper on a procedural way ahead for the Senate of Canada is a substantive step forward in making a more independent Senate also more able to debate, amend, approve and dispense with legislation in a timely fashion.

The approach Harder is suggesting – of a focused Business Planning Committee, reflecting all aspects of Senate membership, with agreed-to time frames and ample room for debate, engagement, hearings and consideration – goes right to the role envisioned by the Fathers of Confederation.

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So important was the Senate as an agenda item in 1865 that our founders spent six of their 14-day discussion on the establishment of the Upper Chamber. So in this, our 150th anniversary of Confederation, it is good to remember that without an agreement on the Senate, neither Confederation nor Canada would have been realized.

Currently, Senate rules allow one senator or cadre of senators to adjourn (delay) a bill or motion forever, at intervals of five weeks, disallowing debate or vote. I seriously doubt this was in the founders’ plans when establishing the Senate. But this is the crazy rule now in place – often exploited by partisan excess. In my day, motions on televising proceedings, or a referendum on Senate reform or abolition were adjourned by opponents on both sides of the Chamber for months. I know because those motions were mine.