Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Québec East. A unique way to abolish the Senate of Canada would be to reduce its budget from $60 million a year to $104, or $1 per senator. With a budget of $1 per senator, the Senate would be abolished de facto.
This would perhaps be a way of coming up with a solution that did not involve the Constitution of Canada or its amending formula.
I agree with him, and I think that our party does as well, if there is a way to do this without going through the lengthy process of amending our Constitution.
The problem with the Constitution is that we need unanimous consent to abolish the Senate and even to reform it. We need unanimous consent for a great many things. In other cases the section 42 formula applies. We then need the consent of two-thirds of the provinces representing 50% of the Canadian population, in addition to the support of parliament. I therefore agree with the hon. member.