A growing chorus for a referendum on the Senate

RAW: Mulcair says he will seek to abolish Senate

9 years ago

Duration 4:16

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, and Minister of State for Multiculturalism Tim Uppal all address the question of whether the Senate should be reformed or abolished.

Getting rid of the senate is not an entirely new idea, but it has taken on a new urgency as the expenses scandal deepens. NDP opposition leader, Tom Mulcair, is not shy about wanting to abolish the Red Chamber. And with a federal election on its way, we're hearing new calls for a referendum on the Senate to take place at the same time.

Of course the Supreme Court reminded the government last year that reforming the Senate would be a Herculean task.

Today we're asking just how complicated holding a referendum on the senate's future, and potentially abolishing it all together, would be. 

Wayne McKay is a law professor at Dalhousie University. He was in our Halifax studio.

For our own referendum on the question of a Senate referendum, we were joined by two guests from the world of politics -- with differing opinions on what the senate's future should be. 

• Jim Munson is an independent Liberal senator. He was in our Ottawa studio.  
• Patrick Boyer was a Progressive Conservative MP for Etobicoke Lakeshore. He's the author of the book, "Our Scandalous Senate," and he was in our Toronto studio.
   

Would you like to see a referendum on abolishing the senate?  How would you vote?     

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This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien and Leif Zapf-Gilje.