Angry in the Great White North

When Andrew Thompson was appointed to the Senate, no one complained.  Andrew Thompson was a great senator, taking is salary and not causing any trouble.  When trouble came, it was because of outsiders who didn't understand how things are done in the Senate:

Thompson's time in the Senate was relatively uneventful, probably because his attendance in the Senate was the worst of any Senator in the 1990s at a 2.2% attendance rate. Thompson attended only 12 times in seven years. He kept a low profile until his woeful attendance was revealed in a series of investigative reports by journalist Jack Aubry of the Ottawa Citizen. Thompson told the reporter he was unable to attend Senate sessions due to illness, but continued to draw his salary by showing up for a few days at the beginning of each session. With growing media attention on Thompson's lengthy absences from the red chamber, the Reform Party made Thompson's absence a cause celebre, repeatedly pointing to the fact that he was living in Mexico. Reform Members of Parliament hired a Mariachi band and served burritos in the lobby of the Senate to draw attention to the issue. Thompson was held up as an example of why the Senate needed to be reformed.

The publicity compelled the Liberals to toss Thompson out of the caucus, but the Senate refused to expel him, since Thompson had not done anything wrong.  Andrew Thompson ended up resigning four months later.

As for the Senate itself, attendance rules were tightened up, but really, not all that much changed.

Compare and contrast the story of Mike Duffy.  Mike Duffy was appointed to the Senate in much the same way as Andrew Thompson.  But Mike Duffy is already causing a stir, within a week of his appointment:

Senator Mike Duffy lashed out at reporters in Halifax on Saturday when asked about his recent comments suggesting P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz may get the "shaft" for getting in bed with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams.

"Are you guys beating a dead horse?" the former CTV personality said after his speech at the Tory annual meeting at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel. "Give it a rest. I explained why I said what I said, because I want people to pay attention and to think about how important it is, especially for a small province like P.E.I., that we have good relations with the federal government."

During a recent Conservative party meeting in Winsoe, P.E.I., Mr. Duffy suggested that when two men get in bed, "one of them is going to get the shaft," adding, "and I can assure you it won't be Danny Williams." He made similar comments last week in the Senate.

Mr. Duffy told the sold-out luncheon Saturday he used the metaphor to grab the public's attention. He described Premier Rodney MacDonald as statesmanlike while Mr. Williams is "barking away" and Mr. Ghiz wants to be "Rambo."

Mike Duffy has achieved his goal, at least most of the way.  The media is spending too much time on the metaphor, but even so, the question of PEI's relationship with the federal government, and the true motives behind Danny Williams' discussions with Robert Ghiz, are being debated in PEI and across the country.

Two senators, both appointed in the accustomed fashion.  One was a poster boy for an ineffectual Senate.   The other?

Well, the other is Mike Duffy, of course, and he makes me consider that it has been too easy to blame the problems on the Senate on how senators were appointed.  All we have to do is elect them, and the Senate would be better, or so goes the accepted wisdom in some circles.

Are we too quick to assume that electing senators would mean a better quality of senator? 

Perhaps.

Demanding a reformed Senate might have become a crutch.  We should have been demanding better senators, at least in the mean time.

Of course, we didn't know what a better senator could achieve in adding to political debate in this country.  Thanks to Mike Duffy, now we do.  We should be asking for more, from Mike Duffy, from the other senators, and from senators to come.

No matter how they come to be in the Senate.