The Role of a Senator

A Senator is an appointed representative that is required to be a symbol of the Canadian population. The role of the Senate is to read the legislation proposed by the House of Commons and suggest changes or amendments. The legislation is then passed back to the Members of Parliament or the Parliamentary Committee so the proposed amendments can be discussed. Senators cannot dismiss a bill; they can only propose changes for improvement to it.

Unlike the elected Members of Parliament, the government in power appoints Senators. The Prime Minister of the time tries very hard to make sure that the Senators are representative of the people of the country from various ethnic origins, gender, etc. Although the Senate remains to be predominantly white males. The women fought so hard to become members of the Senate because it did not effectively represent the Canadian population, which were fifty percent females. There are 32 female members of the 105 seat Senate today.