Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to my friend in the Reform Party on the question I was asking before. What he wants to do is to elect a senator from Nunavut. The people right now are leaning more toward just straight abolition of the Senate and saving $50 million a year rather than trying to bring in a triple E Senate.
Even if he wants to bring in a triple E, I would like to ask him how that would be done. We have been stuck with an appointed Senate for a long time. We have a federation unlike any other in the world with one province which has almost 40% of the people. Another province with 25% of the people is unique and distinct in terms of a different language and culture. How do we persuade those two big provinces that they should have the same number of senators as Prince Edward Island in order to get a triple E Senate?
Even if that were to happen and the provinces agreed to it, what kinds of powers would be given to that Senate? I suspect the powers would be so insignificant, so ineffective and so irrelevant as to wonder why we need a Senate first place. We are stuck. How do we put a round post into a square hole?
This is a very real problem. We have dealt with it for many years in parliament when constitutional issues have arisen. New Brunswick has 10 senators and British Columbia has 6. New Brunswick has about 600,000 people while British Columbia has between two million and three million. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have between them 20 senators. We have 24 in the four western provinces. How do we persuade them to reduce their number of senators and have an effective Senate that makes the Senate worth while to justify spending that $50 million per year?
If we keep going around and around in a circle like a dog chasing his tail, in another 50 or 60 years we will still have an appointed senator from B.C., an appointed senator from Prince Edward Island and so on.
Are we not better off trying to abolish the Senate? That is the way in which public opinion is moving and the Reform Party tells us that it is a grassroots party that wants to listen to public opinion. I would be very interested in knowing how he would square that circle.