A Time for Boldness? Exploring the Space for Senate Reform

It was thirty years ago this past March that Alberta’s Select Special Committee on Upper House Reform released its influential 1985 report that helped to reframe discussions on Senate reform and popularize proposals for a “Triple-E” Senate. The Committee’s report built on the work of a Canada West Foundation task force that argued eff ective regional representation in Parliament requires a Senate that is equal (in terms of provincial representation), elected, and effective (in terms of its legislative powers). The Alberta Committee’s Report popularized these ideas and helped to frame the Senate reform debate in terms of commitments to electoral democracy and rebalancing federalism, especially in terms of the representation of territorial interests at the federal level.