Sunday, November 11, 2007
Time to stand up for democracy with referendum on Senate - Tuesday November 6, 2007
NDP calls on all MPs to give average Canadians a say on modernizing their democracy
OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jack Layton and NDP Critic for Democratic Reform Charlie Angus (Timmins-James Bay) today called on all federal parties to support the NDP’s motion to hold a referendum to abolish the Senate of Canada.
“This outdated 19th century institution does not fit a modern 21st century democracy like Canada,” said Layton. “Modern democracies such as New Zealand have eliminated their unnecessary Senates and so have our provinces. It’s now time to give average Canadians an opportunity to modernize their democracy. And this referendum does just that.”
“The Senate of Canada was put in place before electricity, before women were legally ‘persons’ and before every citizen had the right to vote,” said Angus. “Canada has evolved and it’s time its democratic institutions did too.”
“Today the Senate is a national symbol of Ottawa’s largesse,” said Angus. “I’m sure Canadians would agree the annual $75,000,000.00 budget could be put to better use than to offset the limited value of an unelected, unaccountable Senate.”
# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 2:28 AM 
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