That would be a very good thing. I know the Senate is not regarded as a legitimate body in the 21st century when it's appointed by the Prime Minister. On the other hand, senators often have distinguished careers in business or politics. For a decade I was the Duff Roblin Professor of Government. There was no finer senator, in my eyes at least, than Duff Roblin, who was government House leader and tried to make the Senate committees work.
So I think senators can contribute. We're moving, supposedly, gradually, incrementally towards an elected senate, and then you're going to have to address the issues of the Senate's role in approving spending and taxing decisions, just as they do in Australia. We've had deadlocks and double dissolutions of the two Houses of Parliament when there was an impasse and the government wasn't getting its money. You don't want a Senate that's too powerful. There are senators who regularly go to work, day in and day out, on these committee and try to do an objective job of asking the right questions. It would be good for the senators and the members of Parliament, I think, to work alongside one another.