" A4- The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 8, 2006

TERRACE

TAN DARD

_ ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, 1988

PUBLISHER: ROD LINK

‘ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. - V8G 5R2 ~
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TT he Senate

Irs CALLED the Upper House, the place where

'» what’s called sober second thought is to be ap-—

plied to legislation passed by the Lower House,

the House of. Commons.

In. reality the unelected Canadian Senate has’

-. “been much criticized- over the years. ..It’s now

-: ‘viewed as a place of comfortable patronage — - the’
' salary is $119,100 plus perks - — for those who have:
7 toiled for their party. Z

, Since ‘the. party in’ power.in. Ottawa controls

Senate. appointments and since the federal Liber- |

me als have been the government for so long, mem-
_ bers of this party form the majority in the Senate.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to. change -
_— that by allowing provinces and territories to elect

*. Senators, making the Upper House a far more

- democratic and representative institution.

‘So: what: better place to start than in northern:

vo B. C.2. B. or has six Senate seats in the 105-seat

‘Upper Chamber. None are now from the north.

‘If Mr. Harper wants to create more balanced re-’.

= gional representation in the Senate, then here’s
. his chance. : |

7 A northern B. C. Senator offérs 1 many advantag- /
~-- esto this region.: -The qualified and elected person
mak, would act as an advocate for the region, promot-

a ing and defending it where needed. ,
‘Even though the Senate cannot deny legislation

ae passed by the House of Commons, it can Teview it”

. and call for alterations where necessary. ~~
_ Given that the container port in Prince Rupert is
-. to have national signficance, that the region could
~ be the home to several oil and gas import and ex-
port pipelines, a presence in Ottawa to keep an
eye on what happens is essential. And since the.
- issue of native land claims is still-to bé'resolved, a
_ Tegional representative in Ottawa would bea vital .
part of these deliberations. . a

An elected Senator from the north should also
_ be non-partisan. As such he or she could work
with the northern Members of Parliament to fur-
ther regional goals and aspirations without ties to
party politics.

This would not. diminish the role of MPs such
~as the NDP’s Nathan Cullen from our riding. A
: healthy Senate-House of Commons northern team
would cut through party lines. After all, serving
_ the public i iS supposed to be what government is
all about.

. How to start? Simple. B.C. Liberal Senator J ack:
_ Austin, from Vancouver, reaches retirement age
- next year. And B.C. Conservative Senator Gerry
~ * St. Germain, from the Fraser Valley, has offered

to retire to make way for an election.

_ What area would a northern Senator take in? The |
area taken up by the ridings of Skeena-Bulkley

_ Valley, Prince George-Peace River and Cariboo
.- Prince George would do just. fine. Time’s a-was-
tin’, Mr. Prime Minister. -

vuslanen conan
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Special thanks to all our contributors and
correspondents for their time and talents

“IN THE early days of the now- :
over: federal . election cam- —
-paign, many Canadians — OK, ©

wow! $120 MILLION!
CAN YOU IMAGINE WHERE We'D
BE TODAY (€ THEY HAD CARED
THAT MUCH ABOUT -
US BACK IN.§95 |
WHEN WE. FIRST
- STARTED To GO

- MISSING?

‘Separatism meets ( us ‘out West _

at least this Canadian — _were

concerned the election *out- |.

come would set up a perfect

_ storm for Quebec. separatists.
The Parti.“Quebecois was
. Yiding high in the polls and the
~ Bloc was poised to capture the
majority of Quebec seats on.

Jan. 23..

What would happen, then, :

if the separatists were to con-

- front a badly weakened Lib- ~
‘eral minority government, its. _
Quebec reputation shattered ©
_by the sponsorship scandal or,

even’ worse, a Conservative |
‘Minority government without -

elected representation from
Quebec?
In either case,

In retrospect, however, this

’ nightmare scenario reflects a

_ to swim against the conven-

. badly outdated way of thinking

about national unity issues.

It reflects the conventional
assumption that only national
leaders from Quebec can build
bridges to the broader Cana-
dian community. a

Again in retrospect, this
assumption borders on stu-

. pidity because the course we
have followed over the past 40

years, or at least since the first
election of Pierre Trudeau in

‘1968, has not solved the “Que- .

bec question.”

At best, we have been tread-_

ing water, and so now it is time

tional tide. _
- The “national” unity debate

separat-
ists would be dancing in ‘the:
- streets.

ROGER GIBBINS

in Canada has been almost ex-
clusively a family feud i in Que-_.

bec. »

The dominant players have .
all been from Quebec, includ- |

ing: Lucien Bouchard, Jean
Chrétien, Gilles Duceppe,
Pierre Trudeau, Rene Levesque
and Brian Mulroney. |
Although we called it a “na-
tional” debate, it wasn't na-

tional at all. It was a debate by .

and.among Quebecers about
the future of Quebec, and only

incidentally about the future of —

Canada.

Canadians outside Que-
bec have been like in-laws at
a family fight over dinner. We
have been spectators, inter-
ested to be sure, but not really
part of the discussion. °

’ Our interest has been toler-
ated but not encouraged be-

cause, after all, we are outsid--

ers, not full members of the
family.

_ This is not to deny that non-
Quebecers have left a mark

from time totime. The westem

premiers. certainly did so with”

the 1982 Constitution Act, and —

“| Joe Clark was a constitutional °
_ player, ‘but these exceptions

prove the rule. The national.

unity debate has not been na-.
. tional at all. . ;
. Now, however, we may be:

on the brink of an almost revo-

. lutionary transformation.

If, and I stress if, the sover-
eignty movement confronts. a

_ prime minister from Western -
_ Canada rather than from.Que-
‘bec, ‘the national unity debate |

will | no longer be a family .

“feud...

‘For the first time, it will be

a truly national debate, and it

* will. be different | as a conse-
“quence.

This is not to suggest that

-a Stephen Harper government

will be hawkish on the nation-

- al unity front. To the contrary,

the Conservatives have been
trying to inject new ideas into
a debate that has become. far
too stale, too polarized, too in-
bred to be constructive.

At the same time, Mr. Harp-
er’s approach will be framed

within a context that applies |

to all provinces. It may entail
greater respect for provincial
jurisdictions, and it may entail
addressing the vertical fiscal
imbalance.

In any case, it is likely to

be a national approach to a na-.

tional challenge, rather than an
approach fashioned by and for |
Quebecers. Strategies such as

the sponsorship campaign will .

‘be quite literally inconceiv-
able.
It is also less likely that a

~ western ‘Canadian prime min-
ister will panic. —
He will be more likely to re- :
flect a western perspective that
anything that’has gone on for:
more than 40 years cannot be
a crisis. ,
Now all of this, of ‘course,

‘may seem unfair ‘to the feder-

al'leaders who have laboured |
long and hard in defence ofna- °

‘tional unity. The point; howev--. =f

- er, iS not to criticize those who »

have’ come before, but rather.
to stress. that after .40 years

of debate, we are still back at
Square One. °
The separatist movement is.

‘still strong and, in factis quite.”
likely stronger than it was dur-.... °

_ ing Levesque’s heyday. -

. Whatever. has been done to»
date has not worked. It’s been
like the old definition of insan-
ity, doing the same thing. over

and over again’ but expecting a

different results.

There ’is a need for new
ideas, for new perspectives
and energy, and these can only
come if the national unity de-
bate becomes truly national. .

My point is that there should
not be fears that a victory of
the Conservatives will set up
a separatist victory in Quebec.

‘Rather, we will be into a new

game. “and within that new |
game it is by no means clear
that those who seek to destroy: °

Canada will have the upper —

hand.

Foundation, a think tank based
in Calgary which promotes ‘a

western viewpoint. "

IN PRIME Minister Stephen

- Harper's new Conservative

. government.
' first task should be to phone

the.

Nanny 911 before new MPs
can lear bad behaviour from
those re-elected to parliament.

_ Nannies from 911 need only

| a week to retrain dysfunction-
al families to a state of family

bliss.

- we've let their misbehaviour -|.— 7
BTHROUGH BIFOCALS

‘Ottawa will take longer.
MPs are slow learners: and

worsen for years.

Our last parliament so mis- .

behaved an elementary teacher.
escorting her. students from

' the visitors’ gallery was heard’
' warning them, “Don’t you ever
- behave like that!” _

- Qur- parliamentarians | dis-
respect each other and the
Speaker; talk out of turn and

| shout over each other: call °
- pames;

pound desks; and
throw papers, tantrums and

_ gauntlets.

Imagine nannies at Nanny
Central i in England recoiling
as they view video of a typical

_ Ottawa question period.

Nanny Deb shakes her head -
‘in disbelief. “Those MPs need.
_ to be taught some manners.”

Nanny Stella shields
her eyes from further video
mayhem. “Such behaviour

Speaker's |

CL: AUDETTE S ANDECKT

shouldn't be tolerated in a

child. much less in any adult.”

Kindergartners ‘on speed.” ~
_says an incredulous: Nanny

‘When " summoned to the
home of a dysfunctional fam-

» ily. nannies: begin by observ-

ing the normal dynamics of the
family for a full day to deter-
mine ‘the behavi iours that need

addressing.

_ Any 30- minute question pe-
riod should give Nanny Deb
sufficient examples to formu-
late a plan for restoring civility

_to the House.

I picture Nanny Deb recom-
mending five simple mles to
turn our House around: 1. Re-
spect each other. 2. Never in-
terrupt while another is speak-
ing. 3. Wait your turn. 4..No
yelling, name calling. or potty
mouth. 5. Work as ateam. .

Any member. who ignores

Nanny’s rules will be given:a .

a no-nonsense approach who
yet prefers working with 'arge
families.

Our 308-member parlia-
ment should be challenge
enough even for her.

Yvonne. waming by
- Pray — the Speaker
Nanny “Any _. member who will sus-
Central as- who disregards — the. pendtheaction
signs Nan- Speaker's warming will of the House
ny Deb. be sent immediately to “hile he
a 23 year the naugthy chamber.”, ‘Somes down
veteran to stand on
of family the member's
" wars with level. looks

the member in

the eye. and in a low tone of
voice delivers his warning.

Any member who disre-

gards the Speaker's warning

will be sent immediately to the

Our politicians need a nanny —

Naughty Chamber for a time-

out. (Usually nannies desig-
nate a mat. stool. or stair step
as a time-out sport. But with so
many unruly MP’s only aroom
rated high occupancy will do.).

Time-outs shall last one
minute-for each year of the
member's age as verified - by
birth certificate.

Since the House is not the
Senate,
will not permitted to snooze.

No MP may leave the _
Naughty Chamber before |
serving his allotted time and
giving the Speaker a heartfelt

“Sorry”.
‘Hugging : the Speaker will:

"not be part of the disciplinary

routine: no benefit can come of
discomfiting Stephen Harper -
Or homophobics. ,
Members who repeatedly
ignore Nanny’s rules will be
fined a day's pay for each igno-
rance. Fines: will go to Nanny

~ Deb in lieu of salary. Expect

Nanny Deb to be well: paid, -.
and not necessarily briefly.

Take note that on election:
night as re-elected Vancouver .
Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry |
hoisted a celebratory drink she
said, “I can’t wait to give the
Conservatives a taste of their
own medicine.”

Dr. Roger Gibbins is the
president of the Canada West -— ”

members in time-out , ~