Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill to Limit Tenure of Senators

The Library of Parliament recently released a legislative summary of Bill C-10: An Act to Amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Senate Term Limit):

"It limits the tenure of senators appointed after 14 October 2008 to one non-renewable eight-year term. The bill sets the existing retirement age of 75 for current senators to all senators regardless of when they were appointed. It further allows a senator who is subject to the eight-year term to return to the Senate to complete an interrupted term."

"Bill C-10 is the latest version of a series of government bills introduced since 2006 proposing to limit Senate terms. Since the introduction of the first Senate term limits bill (Bill S-4), the government’s proposals for reducing Senate terms have evolved, usually in response to concerns raised about some of the provisions contained in prior versions of the government’s bills."

"Bill C-10 reintroduces, without modification, Bill S-7, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Senate term limits). Bill S-7 was introduced in the Senate on 28 May 2009, but died on the Order Paper when Parliament was prorogued on 30 December 2009. The bill did not proceed past second reading."

"Bill S-7 reintroduced, with important modifications, the provisions set out in Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (Senate tenure), introduced in the House of Commons on 13 November 2007. Bill C-19 died on the Order Paper when Parliament was dissolved on 7 September 2008."

"There are two important differences between Bill C-10 (and its predecessor, Bill S-7) and Bill C-19:

• Bill C-10 imposes a universal retirement age of 75 years regardless of the date of appointment. Bill C-19 did not require senators appointed after the coming into force of the bill to retire at age 75; and
• Senators appointed after 14 October 2008, but before the coming into force of Bill C-10, are subject to the eight-year term limit. The term, however, will begin on the date the bill comes into force"
  

There is an earlier Library Boy post on Senate Reform from January 16, 2010 entitled Library of Parliament Studies on Senate Reform.