Quellen zufolge planen Senatoren die Bildung einer sechsten Gruppe, da Fragen zu Carneys Vision für die Oberkammer aufgeworfen werden

> Some sources suggested that creation of a new group is aimed at supporting efforts in passing Liberal government legislation, potentially unwinding Trudeau-era reforms to bring greater independence to the Upper Chamber.

Hard to shed tears for this facsimile of a reform. The crop of independent Senators appointed under this system were extremely deferential to Trudeau. At first I was optimistic that maybe they are deferential out of principle (the only thing worse than a rubber stamp senate, is one that provokes a constitutional crisis), but it became increasingly clear that there is no ideological diversity, and their voting patterns are probably because they’re 99% aligned with the Trudeau brand of liberalism.

So far constitutional convention has kept the Senate okay in practice despite how bad it is in theory; it has seldom challenged the will of the HOC beyond suggesting amendments. But I fear as partisanship grows, this pattern won’t survive indefinitely. We need real Senate reform — either by giving it a democratic mandate, or by clarifying that it only has a suspensive veto (like the House of Lords in the UK) — but the issue of Quebec’s status turns any constitutional reform into a game of hot potato. Nonetheless, I can’t help but hope that someday we resolve to do something about this embarrassing institution.