POL111H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Central Canada, Liberal Democracy, Responsible Government
Document Summary
In 1867 the maritimes were over-represented in the senate, to offset the large numbers of mps central canada has in the house of commons. When they entered confederation, the western provinces and eventually newfoundland were also guaranteed more senators than their share of the national population merited. Today, central canada (ontario + quebec) are under- represented in the. Senate, relative to their share of the national population. All four atlantic provinces are still over-represented, though only 2/4 western provinces are still over- represented. So one role of the senate was to be a federal institution, to provide the outer regions with a voice in parliament where the house of commons is dominated by central canada. Second, the senate was also supposed to be a chamber of sober second thought, to check the short-term thinking of the democratic majority in the. This reflected liberal political theory (small l ) prevalent in the western world in the 18th and 19th centuries.
