Mr. Speaker, as Bill S-4, the Senate term limit law, approaches its first birthday, Liberal senators are running out of coherent reasons to oppose the bill, and so the silly season begins.
Only 16 of 36 senators who responded to a Hill Times survey support Bill S-4. According to the newspaper, “15 of those supporters are Conservatives and one was anonymous”.
This confirms the democracy phobia of Liberals in the other place. It also shows that whoever is running the mad house over there it certainly is not the Leader of the Opposition, who said in February, “Term limits [for senators] are a good thing, if it's not too short”.
What constitutes a not too short term in the eyes of a Liberal senator? Clearly, it is not the eight years proposed by Bill S-4. According to the Hill Times, “The preferred term limit for Liberals ranged primarily between 12 and 15 years”. Yet last year the Leader of the Opposition said that Senate terms should be as short as six years.
The Leader of the Opposition cannot control Elizabeth May. Now he cannot control his own Senate caucus. Is he in control of anything at all?