Dalton is right

Guinty McDalton is calling for the abolition of the Senate, due mostly to the geographic inequity of the seat distribution. But also due to their continued use of junk food machines in the lobby of the Upper Chamber.

I think he's right.

The Senate is a vestige of political system which institutionalized patronage, and also sought to redress the imbalance of population and geography. In the second largest country in the world, those are still difficult challenges.

But they are different challenges.

The Senate was designed in a country with no transportation route or communication line from East to West, with four provinces, and population of just over 2 million.

We now live in a world of instant communication. A country that takes only hours to cross (if you avoid Air Canada and the don't get routed through Winnipeg) instead of weeks. Our population is made up largely of immigrants and and their children, growing at a rate of 180,000 each year. A sizeable portion of us weren't born here, and if we were, our parents weren't.

Our regional cultures are becoming increasingly homogeneous in their heterogeneousness... (Is that a word...?)

And the key to preserving traditional regional cultures is not rooted in an unelected Red Chamber... unless of course we start appointing Celine Dion and the Rankins.

In fact, every province in confederation has abolished their own senate - so why should the national government have one?

McGuinty has a legitimate point in wanting Ontario's regional issues dealt with. Putting them aside to rebalance, once again, in favour of the rest of Canada is short-term gain for long-term pain.

But hell, it's worked for every other region, even BC has done well with the pitch, maybe Dalton's on to something. And what Ontario voter won't support that... The rest of Canada will have to hope that it doesn't come to that.