Reforming the Upper House: Lessons from Britain

For nearly two decades Britain has been engagedin some of the most ambitious constitutional andparliamentary reforms since the Reform Acts ofthe nineteenth century. Reform in the House ofLords alone has produced six White Papers, oneRoyal Commission, and dozens more parliamentaryvotes and reports by the House of Commons,the House of Lords and the joint committees.Canadians have watched these developmentswith particular interest, since many of the issuesdebated - the legitimacy of an Upper House,election versus appointment, and qualifi cationsfor membership - are similar to those discussedhere. Yet before looking at possible lessons forCanada we need to refl ect upon another question:What is the Westminster Model and whatelements of this model are refl ected in our ownsystem?