Senator Downe: Do you share that view?

The Hon. the Speaker pro tempore: Senator Downe, do you have a question?

Hon. Percy E. Downe: I thank Senator Cotter for his remarks. I tend to agree with most of them. However, I am sure it wasn’t his intent to not explain the full picture of the role of the Senate over the years.

There are many examples of where the Senate has rejected the House of Commons. Probably the best example is before the 1993 election when the Conservative government made a commitment on the Toronto airport. The Liberal opposition promised that if they formed the government, they would reverse that decision. Mr. Chrétien won the election and formed the government, which held a majority in the House of Commons. The House passed the changes to reverse the decision. The bill came to the Senate, and Liberal senators voted against the proposal as well because they viewed it as retroactive legislation.

Here was a commitment of the opposition party. They ran on it in their election platform. They won the election, implemented what they said they would do and the Senate said no to the elected House of Commons immediately after the election.

There are exceptions to all the rules. In my own view, I don’t believe this is a hill to die on, but there will be cases where the Senate will want to oppose the House of Commons.