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Summary
This bill changes the length of a Senator's tenure. It would impose an eight year limit on a Senatorial term.
Bill History
This bill was originally entitled S-4, and was drafted by the Senate. There was hesitation to have the bill go to Second Reading in the Senate due to the possibility of having to abide by the Constitution Act's requirements of needing 7/10 provinces' blessing and 50% of the popular vote.
The Senate sent the bill to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs which heard from the Prime Minister that the bill was in line with his vision of an elected Senate. Harper spoke, though, to the fact that S-4, as originally presented, was silent on the question of whether the eight-year terms are renewable. The PM said he was in favour of a renewable term, and that if the committee strongly opposed the idea of renewable terms, this could be accommodated by means of an amendment to the bill.
The committee did return the bill with two ammendments. It proposed a non-renewable term of 15 years and an age maximum of 75 for existing senators. This bill ended up before Parliament this term essentially as two different bills (C-19 and C-20).
C-19 deals exclusively with Senate term limits, and will not require the provincial provisions of the Constitution Act, as term limits are not mentioned as being out of Parliament's exclusive right to ammend the constitution.
First Reading - November 13th, 2007
Debate at Second Reading - November 16th, 2007