Western Alienation and the Senate: The Key to Unlocking Canada's Democratic Deficit

Western alienation has been a common theme in Canadian politics since Confederation, and the idea that the West is ignored in the federal policy process has become embedded in western Canadian political culture. The election victory of the Conservative Party has brought hope to many Westerners who believe that a party with grassroots Western support will be more adept to dealing with the apparent problem of political and economic alienation in western Canada. Despite a perception of victory for the West, it will never be "in" unless significant democratic institutional reforms are made to our parliamentary system. The politics of Western alienation and the reforms that have been suggested out of the West's history of democratic protest are useful for examining and understanding Canada's democratic deficit. Western Canadian history and political culture have provided the ideal setting for Canada's federal democratic deficiencies to be manifested. Given this fact, institutional changes to Canada's parliamentary system need to reflect Canada's federal nature if the interests of all Canadians are to be properly considered, and Senate reform is a possible solution.

Since Confederation, federal policies in such areas as transportation, trade, taxation, and monetary policy have reflected the West's opposition to its subordinate status vis-a-vis central Canada. "There is nothing unusual in the benefits of a federation being unequally distributed among its constituent units but as a rule, in a federal polity the least-favoured areas are the seat of the greatest resentment."

Because western Canada was initially categorized as a subordinate region, and has had significant economic and political grievances, it formed a history and political culture of protest. The result of both historical and modern economic grievances has led to the West's deviation from the traditional parties, and subsequent support has divided between those who have promoted regional protest parties, those who simply wanted a change in government, and those who have rejected the party system altogether.

Western Canadian protest points to the kinds of change that is necessary for citizens to be democratically empowered in such a way that Canada's diverse regional interests can be managed and reflected in the policy process. If Canada is to be truly representative of democratic values, then citizens' alienation in the West and all of Canada's regions needs to be addressed. It is a necessary condition for Canada to manage the country's regional diversity more accurately. There have been countless democratic reforms advocated, and many with reference to addressing western alienation. It is possible for these to be applied to the greater goal of improved national unity through inclusion of all citizens, no matter what region, in governing the country. 

The Canada West Foundation (CWF) is a political research and advocacy group for Western interests, and has been a major proponent of changing the governing process for inclusion of the West. The Foundation says, "Western discontent may be a regional issue, but it is a national problem. It speaks to the very heart of what Canada is all about, and to our common commitment to democracy and good government."  Good government requires the adequate representation needed to address the root causes of discontent. Reforming the federal policy process has been advocated over specific policies by the CWF because "policies come and go - what has stayed the same is the barriers to full western participation in the national government."

It is difficult for regional interests to be sufficiently supported in the federal Parliament because periphery regions such as western Canada lose out in the battle of sheer numbers. Many have campaigned for reform of the House of Commons. The House of Commons is highly centralized in the power of the Prime Minister and Cabinet because of a high degree of party discipline. It is argued that lessening party discipline would allow backbench MPs more freedom to be sensitive to their constituency's regional interests. Moreover, it is also argued that Committees should be strengthened to give backbench MPs more input in the policy formation process. Although these reforms are positive for democratic renewal, they are not sufficient for addressing deep-seated alienation in periphery regions. One reason for this is because specific action in the House of Commons is not very visible to the wider public. It is rare for citizens to research their MP's voting records, or their work on Parliamentary Committees. Also, parties' desire to form government and maintain a unified caucus makes it difficult to imagine that backbench MP's will break ranks with their respective parties very often. Therefore, more significant and transparent change to the parliamentary system is required for periphery region alienation to be addressed.

Democratic reform needs to be inclusive and balanced to take into account Canada's federal nature and regional diversity. Alan Cairns said, "Canadian scholars have frequently noted that political elites have been unable to free themselves from the seemingly eternal burden of working the federal system and preventing the disintegration of the country." He was referring to the fact that a federal polity must have significant measures to represent the governments and societies of its regions. Cairns outlined the workings of federalism in saying:

Contemporary federalism is an arena in which the political and bureaucratic leaders of governmentalized societies and economies hammer out the next stage in the further evolution of the eleven distinct yet interdependent political economies and politicized societies, which are the gifts of the past to the present.

The governmentalized societies and economies that Cairns refers to collaborate through federal institutional arrangements intended for regional representation. However, to do so effectively, it is necessary to have adequate representation of the citizens who inhabit the societies and maintain the economies. The federal arena must coordinate governments' interests as well as citizens' interests. The management of government interests has been maintained by executive federalism, meaning ministerial collaboration and policy coordination between governments. Citizen's representation of their distinctly regional interests is inadequate in Canada due to institutional deficiencies inherited from Confederation.

Regional representation for citizens' interests has primarily been compensated by regional allocation in the federal Executive. However, ministerial power as regional representatives is compromised by government's desire for re-election. In order to do so, the government needs the support of the most electorally lucrative region, central Canada, and thus the interests of the parts are often made subordinate to the interests of the whole. This logic has been more pronounced in recent decades. The lack of representation from regional Cabinet Ministers has increased the role of executive federalism, and provincial premiers have become more than collaborative government spokespersons, and instead, have become provincial defenders of their citizens' interests. The problem with this state of affairs is that it gives tremendous power to provincial premiers and adds to confrontational federalism. Examples of this are obvious, such as Danny Williams' defiance of the federal government while defending Newfoundland's interests in exploiting offshore oil and gas. In democratic terms, premiers are not necessarily the ideal representatives of provincial citizens because they have their own government's political interests at stake, so it is therefore politically beneficial to defend provincial interests at all costs to cooperative and collaborative federalism.

Citizens' regional representation in the national government was theoretically supposed to be provided in the Senate. However, its status as an appointed and illegitimate institution has rendered it virtually powerless. The Canadian Senate was originally intended for two reasons: The first was to review legislation as a "sober second look" for recommendations of improvements. The second was for the representation of regional or provincial interests in the national government. It is clear that the Senate's historical record proves that it has been a failure according to its intentions. Although the Senate has had some limited success in reviewing legislation from the House of Commons through Senate Committees, it is restrained by its lack of accountability. Senators are appointed by the Prime Minister, "giving to Canada the dubious distinction of being the only federation in the western world, if not the whole world, in which members of the Upper House are appointed by the central government."

It is difficult to claim that Senators are representatives of their regions under such a system of appointments, and western Canadian calls for Senate reform echo this fact clearly. The regions being represented do not have a say in choosing their Senators and therefore, the citizen has no indication that a Senator will be responsive to his/her region's interests. Appointments are largely based on political patronage to the Prime Minister. This is shown by the fact that Senators tend to be appointed along the lines of federal political parties, and more specifically, the party of the federal government of the time. This has led to partisan disadvantage in the Senate because party interests tend to prevail, and political party affiliations do not necessarily match those supported in the provinces. For the West, provincial governments have been represented by different political parties than their federal counterparts for much of Canadian history, so appointments along federal party lines are illogical for adequate regional representation. Senate reform would be a considerable step in addressing regional alienation in Canada.

On the day of the patriation of Canada's Constitution, Melvin Smith said that "[t]he deep-seated alienation that exists in the West towards the federal government...because of the lack of meaningful regional input on national decision-making is symptomatic of out-moded and unfair existing constitutional arrangements."  He said this with specific reference to the Senate, believing that the Constitutional changes being made did not go far enough to address the problems in Canada's democracy. The Senate should be elected and it should have adequately allocated seats for effective regional representation. This would transform it into a legitimate institution for its purpose of legislative review, and as a check on the power of the House of Commons and the Executive. It would make it a truly federal institution representing Canada's regional interests. The CWF says, "[a] well functioning Senate would provide an effective voice for regional populations - for citizens - not for provincial governments, who already have a voice through a host of intergovernmental channels."  The fact that citizens' regional interests would be made influential and responsive suggests a major change in Canada's democratic landscape.

Critics of Senate reform do not believe it would be an effective cure to political alienation, but the arguments made discount the role of citizens' engagement in the political process. They argue that a problem remains where citizens are too far distanced from their elected representatives, and the fact that Senators would be required to represent larger constituencies of citizens than MPs currently are.  Such an assumption discredits the principles of representative democracy. If these same citizens are the supposed electors to hold Senators accountable, then it would be a necessary condition for a Senator's re-election that they do everything in their power to ensure adequate representation. This would be further reinforced in Senate elections were carried out under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral model (as in Australia), which requires that representatives be more responsive to citizens than their respective parties. Furthermore, because regional representation in the Senate works as a complement to representation by population in the House of Commons, the enhanced citizens' influence increases democratic legitimacy for Parliament as a whole.

Western alienation is a key indicator of the democratic deficit in Canada. A deep form of political alienation to this extent points to flaws in citizens' democratic representation. Senate reform has been an essential tenet of the discourse on western alienation for its potential benefits in providing citizens with an arena for the nation-wide deliberation of their regional interests. Such changes are constricted by the requirement of constitutional change in order for all-encompassing Senate reform to occur. However, limited reform, such as Prime Ministerial appointments of Senators elected from the provinces, would be a step forward and possibly be a catalyst for further change in the future. For ideas like western alienation to vanish from Canada's political landscape, institutional change reflecting Canada's federal nature is necessary. "The only barrier to making these changes is political will."

End Notes

1. David E. Smith. Western Politics and National Unity, in Riel to Reform: A History of Protest in Western Canada. Ed., George Melnyk, (Saskatoon, 1992). p. 43.
2. Roger Gibbins, Conflict and Unity: An Introduction to Canadian Political Life.  Second Edition (Scarborough, 1990), p. 121.
3. Roger Gibbins and Robert Roach, Building a Stronger Canada: Taking Action on Western Discontent, Canada West Foundation: A West in Canada Project Update. (2004). p. 3.
4. Ibid. p. 5.
5. Alan C. Cairns, The Government and Societies of Canadian Federalism, in Perspectives on Canadian Federalism, eds. R.D. Olling and M.W. Westmacott, (Scarborough, 1988), p. 114.
6. Ibid. p. 116.
7. Melvin H. Smith, The Renewal of the Federation: A British Columbia Perspective. Commission of the Government of British Columbia, (Victoria, 1991). p. 29.
8. Ibid. p. 26.
9. Roger Gibbins and Robert Roach, Building a Stronger Canada: Taking Action on Western Discontent, p. 9.
10. Robert J. Lawson, Understanding Alienation in Western Canada: Is "Western Alienation" the problem? Is Senate Reform the Cure? Journal of Canadian Studies, Spring 2005, Vol. 39, Issue 2, p. 146.
11. Roger Gibbins and Robert Roach, Building a Stronger Canada: Taking Action on Western Discontent,  p. 5

Bibliography

Cairns, Alan C. The Government and Societies of Canadian Federalism, in Perspectives on Canadian Federalism, eds. R.D. Olling and M.W. Westmacott, (Scarborough, 1988).

Gibbins, Roger. Conflict and Unity: An Introduction to Canadian Political Life.  Second Edition (Scarborough, 1990).

Gibbins, Roger and Roach, Robert. Building a Stronger Canada: Taking Action on Western Discontent, Canada West Foundation: A West in Canada Project Update. (2004).

Lawson, Robert J. Understanding Alienation in Western Canada: Is "Western Alienation" the problem? Is Senate Reform the Cure? Journal of Canadian Studies, Spring 2005, Vol. 39, Issue 2.

Smith, David E. Western Politics and National Unity, in Riel to Reform: A History of Protest in Western Canada. Ed., George Melnyk, (Saskatoon, 1992).

Smith, Melvin H. The Renewal of the Federation: A British Columbia Perspective. Commission of the Government of British Columbia, (Victoria, 1991).