Senate

It looks like Steven Harper is going break his pledge push for an elected Senate by filling the 18 current vacancies with Conservative appointees. Aside from the apparent hypocrisy, there's nothing too drastic about Harper's decision. The Prime minister has always had the power to appoint Senators, and historically, he has always chosen individuals favorable to his party's cause.

But for those of you who would like to get rid of that arguably outdated system, here are two ideas that would allow us to modernize the Senate without having to reopen the Constitution to elect Senators:

-Ban party affiliation in the Senate, ban Senate whips and ban Senators from attending weekly party caucus meetings. This won't entirely get rid of party affiliation in the Senate since Senators will instinctively be drawn towards other members of their former party, but it would certainly help.

-Form a commission of Civil servants to recommend Senate appointments (in the same way that a commission appoints judges) and give the Prime minister the purely honorary role of signing the documents. The commission could be tasked with finding the most influential, knowledgeable and meritorious Canadians. This would bring us much closer to the initial vision that the Fathers of Confederation had of the Senate: a body of distinguished elder statesmen tasked with ensuring that elected officials make rational and carefully examined decisions.