Thank you very much.
I want to thank the senator for presenting to us today. You made some important points.
I want to ask about a couple of things you said in your presentation, just to clarify them a little. On your second page you talked about “a reformed Senate could have prevented past majority governments from taking Canada to the brink of financial disaster”. But in your Elton override, you suggested that if the Commons doesn't like the way the Senate voted, it could send back its bill.
As you well know, any bills that dealt with financial disaster would have been confidence bills in the House of Commons and in the government of the day, so the government would obviously have sent it back if the Senate voted against it. You would then have an impasse, and the Senate, according to the Elton override, in effect would not have any ability to stop that, whatever you thought would have been detrimental financial bills.
Those two things don't seem to support each other; they seem to be contradictory. Perhaps you can explain that to me.
Second, you use the words “That new Senate would truly be the House of the Provinces” in the Elton override. Is that really what we're trying to do? Are we trying to create another series of provincial governments that will then have the ability to control the federal government and the House of Commons in the way it behaves?
We have seen quite often that provinces are very distinct and very different in the way they see things. Would that not infringe on the mandate and the jurisdiction of the federal government in so many ways if these senators are the “House of the Provinces”, as you put it? That's the second question.
On the final question, you said this is all possible where you have “a Prime Minister committed to respecting provincial Senate election results”. But what about a Prime Minister committed to respecting, first and foremost, the Constitution? I think there is such a sleight of hand in this bill that in many ways it fundamentally disrespects the Constitution.
Those are the three things I wanted to put to you, and I would like to hear your responses to them.