Adler’s appointment sparks outrage but Senate can’t be reformed

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Charles Adler, a longtime radio and TV broadcaster, former newspaper columnist and my former colleague, is now Senator Charles Adler. The announcement of Adler’s appointment came from the PMO on Saturday, making it 82 people that Justin Trudeau has now appointed to the chamber of sober second thought.

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Or is that “chamber of drunken second chances” as Adler famously called the upper chamber of Parliament in 2013.

Yes, people are going to go back through Adler’s past comments to try to embarrass him. He’s held plenty of positions in the past that don’t jibe with the current government’s political leanings.

More than once on radio and television, Adler debated me on the need for the death penalty, with him arguing in favour and me arguing against it.

Will anyone care?

Not much.

Most Canadians don’t think about the Senate all that often, and many of those who do are angry about the place.

It seems odd in 2024 to have a Senate where its members are appointed rather than elected. That’s not a very democratic way of doing things, which is why there have been calls for reform or abolition for years.

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“The Senate is broken and needs to be fixed,” Justin Trudeau said in 2014.

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At a time when there were just 34 elected Liberals in his caucus, Trudeau kicked out the 32 appointed Liberal senators.

“The only way to be a part of the Liberal caucus is to be put there by the people of Canada,” Trudeau said at the time.

And the only way to get into the Senate now is to be placed there by Justin Trudeau. Despite Trudeau promising to appoint independent senators only, he has appointed people who are closely aligned with his views politically.

Tracy Muggli, appointed as a senator for Saskatchewan at the same time as Adler, was a candidate for the Liberals in a 2019 byelection. And while Adler may have been a small “c” conservative when he wrote for The Toronto Sun and hosted his TV show, he’s long been a cheerleader for Trudeau, whose views dominate after so many appointments.

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So what are we to do with the Senate?

Several provinces started out with a senate, including Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, P.E.I. and New Brunswick, which were eventually abolished. In fact, Quebec only abolished its upper house in 1968.

We could abolish the Senate, but that would require reopening the constitution, a process few would want to undertake today. Can you imagine the demands various groups would have on inserting new rights or measures into the constitution once it was opened?

We could try reform, as Stephen Harper did in trying to establish term limits rather than an appointment until age 75. Harper also proposed allowing provinces to elect senators, as Alberta had done.

The Supreme Court ultimately rejected his proposals in 2014, and Harper not only gave up on senate reform, he gave up on appointing new senators. In fact, by the time Harper left office, there were 20 vacant senate seats that Trudeau ultimately filled.

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Despite the desire of Canadians to either abolish the Senate or have it become equal, elected and effective; we are pretty much stuck with it the way it is.

The best that we can hope for is that the senators who are appointed do some good work.

Many of those outraged at the Senate’s existence still cling to the era of senators nodding off in their sleep or people like former senator Andy Thompson, who collected his pay while living in Mexico. Those days are long gone, and they are thankfully not coming back.

So Mr. Adler, Chuck if I may, go to Ottawa and make Parliament a better place. It’s all we can ask of you.

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