@ISIDEWITHQuestionsDomestic Policy11yrs ago

Should the federal government elect or abolish the Senate?

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Answer Overview

Response rates from 335k Canada voters.

44%
Abolish
48%
Elect
37%
Abolish
30%
Elect
7%
Abolish, the recent corruption scandals have proven that any unelected body of government is detrimental towards democracy
12%
Elect, and require members to be non-partisan
6%
Elect, Senators that are elected are less prone to corruption

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Other Popular Answers

Unique answers from Canada voters whose views went beyond the provided options.

 @9FH5R83from Quebec  answered…2yrs2Y

Neither, turn the Senate into a appointed non-partisan technocracy, where Canadians who are the experts in certain areas serve and advise parliament.

 @B432K25from Ontario  answered…1mo1MO

Abolish both the senate and the monarchy, and turn the red-chamber into a 24/7/365 child-care centre.

 @B3YW962from Alberta  answered…1mo1MO

The federal government should not do anything to the Senate. The Senate should be comprised of democratically elected members, with 6 year terms, 33% of which is up for election every 2 years.

 @B2J775Mfrom Ontario  answered…3mos3MO

Neither, turn the Senate into an appointed non-partisan technocracy, where Canadians who are the experts in certain areas serve and advise parliament.

 @B26DZ65from Alberta  answered…4mos4MO

Direct democracy over "representation". I don't feel any representation with the current govt. And too much corruption

 @9ZS96WWfrom Ontario  answered…5mos5MO

Abolish but create two new sector of the government for provincial and territory representation and the other to look over the bills to give the senate less power.

 @9YNBMP4from Alberta  answered…5mos5MO

Every province gets 10 senators, appointed by the provincial legislature. That way then the electorate changes it's will at a provincial election they can change the makeup of the federal government.

 @9VRBTLCfrom Manitoba  answered…6mos6MO

The people of Canada should elect senators not the federal government, and especially not the government in power.

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 @FederalistBennyfrom Montana  submitted…5mos5MO

Trump Picks Fox New Host For Top Security Role

President-elect Donald Trump has named Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran and Fox News host, as his choice for secretary of defense and John Ratcliffe, a hawkish former House lawmaker, to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, placing loyalists in two key national security positions.The selection of defense secretary continues Trump’s practice of turning away from civilians with high-level national security experience to run the Pentagon or to retired officers, which he tried early in his first term when he chose retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis to run the department.“Pete has spent his entire life as a Warrior for the Troops, and for the Country. Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump said in a statement confirming his selection. In a separate statement, Trump called Ratcliffe a “warrior for Truth and Honesty” and credited him for exposing what Trump called “fake Russian collusion” accusations against his 2016 campaign.If confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth would take over the federal government’s biggest department with a budget that last year reached $850 billion, overseeing a workforce of nearly three million civilian workers and military service members, many deployed around the world. He has never held a senior government post, an issue likely to be raised at least by Democrats ahead of a vote on his nomination.Hegseth, 44, is a National Guard veteran from Minnesota who has been a commentator on Fox News for the past decade. He once led an advocacy group that sought to privatize healthcare provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, leading Trump to consider him as VA secretary during his first term.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…3mos3MO

Supreme Court Clears The Way For Trump Sentencing

Donald Trump will face sentencing over his New York “hush money” conviction on Friday, after the US Supreme Court declined to grant him a last-minute reprieve.The decision will force the president-elect to face public proceedings in the criminal case that he has fought strenuously to avoid. His lawyers had appealed to the high court on Wednesday to postpone the proceeding, claiming that allowing it to go ahead days before his inauguration would create a “constitutionally intolerable risk of disruption to national security” and interfere with his efforts to get his 34 felony convictions overturned.In a 5-4 decision handed down just hours before the sentencing was set to go ahead in a state court in lower Manhattan, a majority of the justices declined to do so, saying “the burden that sentencing will impose on the president-elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial” especially as Trump was unlikely to face any prison time. They added that any issues with the evidence presented at trial — some of which Trump’s lawyers have claimed was inadmissible — “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal”.Trump-appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined Chief Justice John Roberts and the three liberals on the bench in refusing to grant Trump’s appeal.Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he appreciated the Supreme Court’s time but vowed to continue fighting the case. “For the sake and sanctity of the Presidency, I will be appealing this case, and am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL,” he said.Lawyers representing Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trump’s sentencing was repeatedly postponed while he mounted his third campaign for the White House and pursued various appeals against his conviction. Last week Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the “hush money” trial in New York earlier this year, finally set a firm date, in order to bring what he called “finality to this matter”.Trump will probably not face any punishment when he is sentenced, however, as the judge previously indicated he would not impose a fine or condemn Trump to prison time.

▲  1619 replies

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…5mos5MO

Chaos in Europe: Germany’s Government Collapses As Trump Returns

Germany’s coalition government collapsed on Wednesday after Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister Christian Lindner, plunging the eurozone’s largest economy into political chaos hours after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.Scholz told reporters he would table a confidence vote in parliament on January 15, which most observers expect him to lose. That will pave the way for snap elections in March.Lindner’s sacking and the departure of his pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) from the government brings the curtain down on a deeply unpopular coalition that had become a byword for discord and acrimony.It leaves a void at the heart of Europe just as concern is growing in EU capitals over what a second Trump presidency will mean for transatlantic relations.Germany and the rest of Europe now face a long period of uncertainty they can ill-afford as they brace for a trade war with the US while trying to fend off a growing economic threat from China.In a blistering statement delivered in the chancellery, Scholz blamed Lindner for the breakdown of the government, calling him “selfish” and “irresponsible”. He said he “cared only about his own clientele and the short-term survival of his own party”.The trigger for Lindner’s dismissal was a dispute over next year’s budget. The three coalition partners — Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD), Lindner’s FDP and the Greens — could not agree on how to plug a €9bn hole in spending plans ahead of a meeting of parliament’s budget committee next week.However, the conflict became overlaid with deeper ideological divisions over how to deal with Germany’s economic downturn and how much public debt the government is legally allowed to raise.Scholz said he had asked Lindner to agree to loosen Germany’s “debt brake”, a cap on new borrowing which is enshrined in the constitution and which the SPD and Greens have long wanted to reform.That would have allowed Germany to take on more debt and so boost its support for Ukraine, at a time when fears are growing Trump might cut aid to Kyiv once installed in the White House.Scholz said he had also proposed capping network charges to bring down energy prices for industrial companies, creating incentives for businesses to invest, and passing a package of measures to safeguard jobs in the car industry, which faces more competition from China.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…6mos6MO

Trump’s Puerto Rico Problem Erupts in Pennsylvania: Latino Voters Fire Back

Donald Trump has a serious Puerto Rico problem — in Pennsylvania.Many Puerto Rican voters in the state are furious about racist and demeaning comments delivered at a Trump rally. Some say their dismay is giving Kamala Harris a new opening to win over the state’s Latino voters, particularly nearly half a million Pennsylvanians of Puerto Rican descent.Evidence of the backlash was immediate on Monday: A nonpartisan Puerto Rican group drafted a letter urging its members to oppose Trump on election day. Other Puerto Rican voters were lighting up WhatsApp chats with reactions to the vulgar display and raising it in morning conversations at their bodegas. Some are planning to protest Trump’s rally Tuesday in Allentown, a majority-Latino city with one of the largest Puerto Rican populations in the state.And the arena Trump is speaking at is located in the middle of the city’s Puerto Rican neighborhood.“It’s spreading like wildfire through the community,” said Norberto Dominguez, a precinct captain with the local Democratic party in Allentown, who noted his own family is half Republican and half Democratic voters.“It’s not the smartest thing to do, to insult people — a large group of voters here in a swing state — and then go to their home asking for votes,” Dominguez said.The timing couldn’t be worse for Trump. Almost a week before Election Day, he’s pushing to cut into Harris’ margins among Latinos, especially young men who are worried about the economy. But the comments from pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchcliffe Sunday night, referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage,” has reverberated throughout Pennsylvania and elsewhere, prompting even the former president’s Republican allies to defend the island and denounce the comments. And with the race essentially a toss up, every vote counts — especially in Pennsylvania.“This was just like a gift from the gods,” said Victor Martinez, an Allentown resident who owns the Spanish language radio station La Mega, noting some Puerto Rican voters in the area have been on the fence about voting at all.

▲  3116 replies