Volume 88 | Issue 5 | obiter-dicta.ca
The Definitive Source for Osgoode News since 1928
Monday, October 27, 2014
your question period
senate initiative offers new
opportunites to the public
ê Can a recycled US initiative, repackaged for a Canadian audience, be the hail mary the Senate needs to redeem themselves in the public’s mind?
sam michaels › managing editor
T
his year, following a tumultuous period
in which Justin Trudeau cast off his thirtytwo Liberal senators in favour of younger,
more PR-friendly caucus members, the newly
self-styled Liberal caucus has launched a public campaign hoping to reinvigorate both the Senate and
themselves. Led by caucus leader James Cowan, the
Liberal senators have introduced a series of initiatives
in order to open the Senate to the public and prove
the upper house’s worth as a source of open discourse, informative research, and progressive policy
suggestions.
Spearheading this effort is the “Your Question
Period” program, a website deriving its concept from
the hugely successful “We the People” platform in
the United States. For those unfamiliar with either
site, both offer an online form that individuals can
fill out with a question which government officials
can subsequently bring to the floor. “Your Question
Period” offers Canadians the chance to submit their
questions to the Liberal caucus, whose office reads
the questions and selects some to be read aloud to the
Senate during the question period. I had the opportunity to interview Senator James Cowan about the initiative, and he offered some interesting insight on its
value and potential.
Speaking about the inspiration behind this
approach to public interaction, Senator Cowan discussed his caucus’s new found independence, its freedom from the Liberal party, and its desire to do things
differently in the Senate. The Senator spoke of the
“Your Question Period” site, and the other caucus initiatives, as new platforms through which social issues
» see senate, page 17
In this Issue ...
editorial
Happy Halloween . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
student caucus
York University Pretty Cool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
special report
Sports & Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
opinion
CBA & Chevron Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
arts & culture
Jurisfoodence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16