A Brief Comment by Doug Draper
Foolish me. Until a few months ago, I assumed that our so-called “honrouable” friggin governments to Canada’s Senate had to give up their day jobs, as MPs and MPPs do, to serve in what is supposed to be a full-time job that comes with a $130,000-plus annual salary and gold-plated benefits.
Then reports began circulating in the mainstream press this past summer that the now-suspended senator Pamela Wallin continued, far after her Harper appointment to this joke of a regal body, sitting on the boards of a number of private sector corporations, including ones with financial tentacles that spread well into so many sectors of the business world. All of this leaving at least some of us with any brains to wonder, is there any chance there could be conflicts of interest here if she, as a member of a ‘Red Chamber’ for offering “sober second thoughts” on bills pass by our elected parliament, is able to offer a single sober though that does not constitute a conflict for her other corporate masters.
Now we find out, thanks to some good investigative work by Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper, published this past Saturday, November 9th, that Wallin was one of about half of the roughly 102 senators sitting in the senate before of the suspension of her, Duffy and Brazeau, who have been working overtime to pick what they can from private corporate pockets.
According to the Globe piece, some senator including Irving Gerstein, who is chair of the Harper party’s Conservative Fund, has made more than $900,00 over the past couple of years and the list of pig fests beyone what we, the taxpaying sucukers of this country are paying these senators, goes on. Wallin, just as an expample, managed to rack up almost a million, yet she has the nerve to accuse this country of persecuting her if she is deprived of the senate’s gold-plated health benefits.
Lest we forget, the Harper appointed Wallin is now claiming that she is being persecuted by the Canadian system because she got her hands caught in the cookie jar.
That doesn’t seem to mean a flying fig to Harper partisans. They think that this mostly Harper appointed Senate, pigging out as it is on our dime, is quite alright. Let them pig on.
But it should matter to the rest of us.
Those who dutifully go on supporting a prime minster who began his B.S. line months ago, when the senate scandal first broke out, supporting his chief staff member in his PMO office, then turns around and throws this same person – Nigel Wright – under the bloody bus, accusing him of being a deceptive scoundrel, ought to wonder what is going on here.
If they really give a shit about saving taxdollars they should also be wondering why Harper has appointed more than 50 party hacks to this supposed regal body.
Thing about it.. Harper has appointed more than 50 partisans to a senate that holds about a hundred seats and has told them all that they must agree to follow his party’s agenda. Earlier on, as you may recall, former PM Brian Mulroney stacked the senate with party hacks when he needed enough votes there to get the GST passed. This is a house that has been subverted and made a mockery of time and time again. There is no house of sober second thoughts other than we, the people at election time, if we are sober enough to cast a thoughtful vote.
So once again, contact your MPs and urge them to fight for the abolishment of this costly body of pig manure, once and for all!
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
Totally agree on every point made in this article, except for the abolishment of the senate. In this kind of democracy, the upper house, thought through by the writers of our constitution, is desperately needed. It is the only body between dictatorship and democracy.
What is needed is a revamping of the senate that would be more representative of an actual sober second thought. Appointments to the senate need to come from all members of parliament so no senator need be beholding to any PM. Senators need a set time limit. Senators can’t sit on any corporate or union body while in office and a set number of years after office. If senators are to represent provinces, they must come from and reside in those provinces or territories. Senators should not be part of any political party nor should they have anything to do with any political party.
To abolish the senate will result in whoever is in power to have total power. Leaving it to elections every four or five years is much to long to make changes if changes are needed. The only way is to have an equal force as a sober second thought. That is or was the purpose of the senate in the first place.
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Like you, Doug, I was naïve. I thought they had given up ‘day jobs’ so to speak. I guess I knew Wallin was on at least one board, as a cousin rec’d an LLD a few years ago from the U. of Guelph, and Wallin was the chancellor. But I never really put all the jigsaw puzzles together.
Still, that said, there is the Constitution to deal with, is there not, before abolishing the Red Body? Easier said than done.
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I have made my views on the Senate known in previous posts.
One point I think should be reiterated is the fact that at least three Senators (all Conservative) are former CTV Parliament Hill reporters: Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Jim Munson.
Who owns CTV? Good ol’ Ma Bell! You know, the company that has all calls for repairs directed to India. The company that has all its 411 (information) operators in the Phillipines.
Yes, that great “Canadian?????” company that takes your hard-earned money and then fires its Canadian employees and hires a bunch of third-world people at 25 cents per hour!
I wonder how many other senators Bell owns.
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Where would all of us be if we illegally embezzled money from others (in this case the taxpayers)? We would be in jail. Why aren’t they? The ridiculous “I didn’t know” or “I didn’t understand the rules” won’t wash. If they were too stupid to understand the rules, how in hell did they become senators? Oh! That would be because PMs appoint them.
I don’t know why these greedy bastards are so worried about their pensions and benefits when they have so much other income from cushy patronage jobs elsewhere. Poor Duffy can barely afford food!!! Don’t even mention the conflicts of interest. That seems to be the standard policy when it comes to executives and governments.
Do we have a Bastille somewhere in Canada that we can storm?
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I agree with Gerry. The fundamental, however progressively becoming obscure, objective of the senate is to protect Canadians from reckless legislation. We need something to hold the government to account. Just not what we have today.
I sent an email to MISS PIGGY PAM WALLEN the other day advising her to just give up….. still waiting for a response. Fortunately I am not holding my breath! You might have seen the piece in the news where she demands the senate operate within the LAW with respect to her suspension…..Now aint that rich!
At the very least senate terms need to be limited, senators need to be elected and their performance needs to be monitored and managed.
Just sayin…
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