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Over the last nine months it has been informative to read journalists report on the scandals of the Canadian Senate. It is not just the facts of the cases; it is the mood of their reports. They seem to all contain a sense of overwhelming disgust and weariness. As if the whole thing is a depressing exercise in human failure.

And according to polls, it is having an effect on Canadians. We are all having second thoughts about our “House of Second Thought.” Indeed now 41 per cent of Canadians seem resigned to the fact that our Senate should be abolished. And 49 per cent want it at least reformed. Only six per cent want to keep the status quo.

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And so it occurred to me that we could be witnessing one of the most cunning political moves in the history of our country.

You see, when Prime Minister Harper originally came into federal politics he was determined to, if not completely abolish, at least reform the Senate. He, like most westerners, saw it as a bastion of eastern power. And so they thought that at the very least, by making it more like the American Senate, say with two elected members from each Province, it would more fairly function for the country as a whole.