Article content

Whether we know it or not, a constitutional crisis is upon us. Though much predicted, it was always supposed to be somewhere in the offing, a vaguely unsettling prospect but not one that would ever be realized. Well now it is here — whether we know it or not, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.

The cause of the crisis is the Senate, and its increasing pretensions of superiority over the House of Commons: the demonstrated readiness of a few dozen appointed senators to overrule the elected representatives of the people. Or rather, the Senate is the locus for the crisis. The cause of the crisis is the ill-considered “reform” of the upper house under the present government.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Andrew Coyne: The Senate has no business meddling with the federal budget Back to video

The potential for crisis has been there since Confederation, given the Senate’s immense formal powers, on paper almost equal to those of the Commons. But while the Senate has on occasion abused those powers over the years — in the matter of abortion, on the GST and free trade, right up to the defeat of a bill committing Canada to implement the Kyoto Accord — it was never quite so brazen before as lately it has become. Conscious of their unelected status, aware of the low reputation that went with decades of low appointments, senators were more often inclined to yield to the Commons.