🇨🇦 Unelected senators can’t manage three days a week

The Canadian Senate sat just 76 days after the last election, and only eight senators managed perfect attendance. Some bills passed with barely half the chamber voting, while others reportedly popped in long enough to be marked present and then vanished for an early Thursday escape, as reported. This is the elite version of remote work culture: six-figure appointees, no voters to answer to, and a legislative body treating national law like an optional brunch reservation.

Trudeau sold the independent Senate model as enlightened post-partisan reform. What Canada got was less accountability, fewer whips, and more absentee aristocracy. Now Mark Carney wants a chamber equipped to advance ambitious legislation. Of course he does. Global managerial politics loves institutions that are insulated from the public and allergic to consequences. If Ottawa insists on keeping this red-upholstered retirement lounge, the minimum requirement should be showing up to vote on the laws imposed on Canadians.

🍁 Maple Chronicles