Juno News - Does Canada need to abolish the Senate？

00:00:00.000 Welcome to The Fighter. I am your host, Chris Sims. I'm the Alberta and British Columbia

00:00:10.520 Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Hey, first off, thank you so much for watching

00:00:15.480 this show. Juno News is real journalism. It is not funded by the government. It is a free press,

00:00:21.380 completely independent journalism. So if you have not done so yet, please, if you can,

00:00:26.420 Go to Juno News and subscribe to it, okay? It's all based on subscription fees and supporter fees.

00:00:33.540 This is how we do real journalism. We've got a very special show because right now, Alberta,

00:00:39.960 what I would argue is the center of grassroots direct democracy in all of Canada. That's the

00:00:46.420 birthplace of a lot of this stuff. They're holding a big referendum. They're holding a huge referendum

00:00:52.420 Monday, October 19th. It's not just about separation, though. There is 10 questions.

00:01:00.660 There's 10 questions on the ballot. That's what people need to answer. So let's go through a few

00:01:06.720 of them. Okay. Of course, there's the do you want to hold a real referendum eventually on separating

00:01:11.300 and becoming sovereign from the rest of Canada? That's sucking up a lot of oxygen. But there's

00:01:15.900 other stuff, too. There's questions, things like should we appoint our own judges in Alberta?

00:01:21.880 Should newcomers who are brand new to Canada, who haven't been paying into the tax system 0.97

00:01:26.420 and who suddenly start using our provincial services, like health care, like schools, 0.96

00:01:31.940 should they pay user fees?

00:01:33.900 Should we handle our own immigration in the province of Alberta?

00:01:37.340 A lot of stuff like that, kind of similar to the way Quebec does things within United Canada.

00:01:44.120 So that's getting a lot of attention.

00:01:46.220 But the reason why I want to talk to you right now is a very special one.

00:01:49.920 Question 7. Question 7 asks, should Alberta team up with other provinces and work to abolish the

00:01:59.760 unelected Senate in Ottawa? Should we abolish the unelected Senate in Ottawa? Yes. And if you're in

00:02:06.840 the province of Alberta and you're either on the advance voting day of Saturday or you're on the

00:02:11.940 actual day, referendum Monday, get out there and vote, please. And we at the Canadian Taxpayers

00:02:18.740 Federation would encourage you to vote yes to abolish the Senate. Why? Well, a few things.

00:02:25.800 One, the Senate costs you a ridiculous amount of money. It is costing you, taxpayer,

00:02:32.060 $140 million this year. And they waste your money like crazy, okay? We just found through our

00:02:40.640 investigative journalist, Jen Hodgson, at the Taxpayers Federation, the Speaker of the Senate,

00:02:45.280 for example, who's paid well over $250,000 per year, plus a housing bonus, plus a car bonus.

00:02:52.940 She and her entourage have been traveling around the world so hard the past three years,

00:02:58.920 they've racked up a million dollars, close to a million dollars in costs. And I bet you don't

00:03:05.020 even know the Speaker of the Senate's name, but you're paying for her international travel. 1.00

00:03:10.260 Senators themselves, okay, just backbench senators, two feet in a heartbeat.

00:03:14.960 They're paid more than $190,000 per year, and they get to sit there until they're 75 years old.

00:03:23.100 I went back through the budget documents.

00:03:26.860 The Senate has cost you, dear taxpayer, more than a billion dollars over the last 10 years.

00:03:34.120 So it costs you way too much money.

00:03:37.120 Two, it is undemocratic.

00:03:39.400 You, my friend, have never voted for a senator that's currently sitting in the upper chamber.

00:03:44.980 Nope.

00:03:45.580 They're appointed by the prime minister.

00:03:48.160 How is that for democracy?

00:03:49.940 That's why you wind up with the Senate full of ideologues, party bag men, and pastured broadcasters.

00:03:59.460 Okay?

00:03:59.980 Old journalists who are sitting in there until they're 75 years old, collecting a paycheck to be a rubber stamp.

00:04:05.440 And three, finally, all attempts at reforming the Senate have failed. You might be sitting there

00:04:12.720 thinking, but Chris, you're a fighter. How are we supposed to fight government tyranny? How can there

00:04:18.340 be a stop and check on government authority and government power if we don't have our beloved

00:04:24.120 Senate? I hear you. What you're asking is a very important question because we do need to have a 0.98

00:04:30.780 good check on power. But do we really need a Senate that's unelected and unaccountable costing

00:04:36.260 us $140 million a year to be that rubber stamp, say sober second thought? No. Here's an idea.

00:04:44.180 Two things. One, we could have a free press again. Ever think of that? Yeah. I happen to remember

00:04:51.200 as being a longtime member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery back in the day, being a pretty

00:04:56.180 darn good check on power. Why? Because journalists weren't by and large on government payroll back

00:05:02.840 then. Nope, it was just the mother corp. It was just the state broadcaster, the CBC, who was

00:05:08.380 largely on government payroll. Now, unfortunately, as we know, most of mainstream media on government

00:05:15.600 payroll, so they can't hold government to account. So let's get back to that. How's that for a check

00:05:20.240 and balance on power? Let's have a free press. And two, here's a really good tool in the toolbox.

00:05:26.180 let's have recall legislation at the federal government level. Yep, they have it in British

00:05:31.800 Columbia. We have it in Alberta. You can fire a politician at the provincial, city hall, or even

00:05:37.600 school board level in Alberta. It's beautiful. Talk about direct democracy. That would be the

00:05:44.220 we the people check on power. We don't need this ridiculous, bloated, unaccountable, expensive, 0.98

00:05:49.800 sneaky Senate that's costing us way too much money. And lastly, on the reform issue. For folks 0.95

00:05:57.360 who are still sitting there thinking we could elect them and it could be equitable and effective,

00:06:02.140 a triple E Senate, the Reform Party founder, Preston Manning, himself was a guest on this show.

00:06:10.380 He, more than anyone else, fought to make the Senate effective, elected, and accountable,

00:06:16.340 and it never worked. Listen to Preston. Even people who support reform will vote

00:06:22.640 get rid of it just to give a signal to Ottawa that there's no support or respect for that

00:06:29.780 out here. I'd be very surprised if that provoked the constitutional amendment that you actually

00:06:37.880 need, but it would at least send a signal. Joining me now is my good friend and federal

00:06:44.240 director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Franco Terrizano. Franco, this is a special

00:06:49.140 report. It's a special time in Alberta. We're leading up to this huge referendum vote that's

00:06:54.300 going to be happening on Monday, the 19th. It doesn't get more direct democracy than this,

00:06:59.560 does it? No, it sure doesn't. And Chris, I mean, you're leading the charge on one of the

00:07:04.360 referendum questions, right? The referendum question on whether we should abolish the Senate.

00:07:09.680 And I mean, I couldn't be happier. Yes, abolish the Senate. You know, I'll give you three reasons off the off the top of my head on why we go to abolish the Senate. I mean, number one, it's a huge waste of money. Okay, so like the Senate at best is a rubber stamp that costs us over $100 million every year. Now, the second part, the second reason is, well, you might be saying, well, Franco, I think members of Parliament are a waste of money as well.

00:07:37.660 and i'd be like well hey i'm not getting much of an argument for me they can also be a huge waste

00:07:43.020 of money but even though members of parliament could be a waste of money at least they're elected

00:07:48.220 right so the second reason to abolish the senate they're unelected they're unaccountable they

00:07:52.380 represent nobody but themselves so insult to injury and number three chris you would know

00:07:57.900 this better than better than me right because you came uh you you kind of grew up in the political

00:08:03.740 environment of the reform party but the third reason that we just go to abolish this thing

00:08:08.120 is like look past legitimate efforts of reform completely failed yeah exactly so preston manning

00:08:17.160 uh the founder of the reform party we played a cliff off the top of the show he was right here

00:08:22.300 on the fighter on juno news uh and he fought for years and years and years for a triple e senate

00:08:29.180 He wanted it to be elected. He wanted it to be equitable. He wanted it to be effective.

00:08:34.060 None of those things worked, unfortunately, despite his best efforts. And you could maybe say,

00:08:38.340 oh, well, you know, Mr. Manning never became the right honorable. He never became, you know,

00:08:42.920 the prime minister. But Franco, there was this guy, you might remember his name, Stephen Harper.

00:08:48.400 Yeah, he was a majority prime minister and an acolyte of Manning, meaning a student of Manning.

00:08:54.380 and he still couldn't get senate reform done so there are some well-meaning people who are trying

00:08:59.960 to push back saying well we shouldn't abolish it we should reform it um guys even preston manning

00:09:04.780 saying this isn't working yeah no i i appreciate their concerns right because like i mean some

00:09:09.820 people are just i mean they don't want to cut a single cent from government spending but we're

00:09:14.820 not talking about them like we've got some really well-meaning folks we do have some tax providers

00:09:19.140 out there that are like hey guys look i'm behind you they are a waste of money they are unaccountable

00:09:24.280 but let's reform it but Chris to your point like I mean come on right we've tried to reform it and

00:09:29.360 just with all due respect what's the what's the definition of insanity right trying to do the

00:09:34.100 same thing over and over again and expecting different results like look I just think the

00:09:38.980 thing has to be defunded I think there is serious rot and when there's rot you just gotta throw it

00:09:44.760 out you know so I think that's a big a big issue here um I mean look what really what really irks

00:09:52.280 me too is just the entitlement of these unelected senators right we've been breaking a whole bunch

00:09:56.640 of uh stories shout out to our investigative journalists at the canadian taxpayers federation

00:10:01.320 both jen hodgson and we also have a new one to simon who's working behind the scenes getting

00:10:06.400 some of this research but i mean we caught these unelected senators spending millions over the last

00:10:13.620 couple years traveling all around the world now i can't think of a good reason for any unelected

00:10:19.460 senator who represents nobody but themselves to be flying around the world on taxpayers expense

00:10:24.580 but we caught like what 65 of them uh you know billing us close to two million dollars over the

00:10:30.620 last three years i mean completely crazy like like entitled you know yeah big time and so i'm

00:10:38.260 gonna get into it a little bit more because again jen did an amazing job i couldn't have told you

00:10:43.840 who the Speaker of the Senate was two months ago, but now we know it is Raymond Gagné, 0.57

00:10:50.380 and she's the Speaker of the Senate. She is paid, guys, well over $250,000 per year.

00:10:59.160 Wait, there's more. She has a special bonus for housing, and there's more. She has a special

00:11:05.840 bonus for her car, and she and her entourage over the last three years have traveled around

00:11:13.340 the world so much that their expenses have racked up to nearly a million dollars. And for the folks

00:11:21.840 who are trying to say, oh, well, the Senate serves some function as the Royal Chamber. Okay, okay,

00:11:26.840 okay. Listen, I think I might be the only monarchist left at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:11:32.580 The Senate Speaker was not only going to have an audience with His Majesty King Charles III.

00:11:38.180 nay nay she went to france she went to spain she went to brazil she went to romania it's probably

00:11:44.580 easier to say where she didn't go at this yeah you're right you're right nevermind easier but

00:11:48.980 also do like okay folks like if it's to go to see the king or the queen in in the united kingdom

00:11:55.580 maybe that's the one trip that the governor general should be on you know what i'm saying

00:12:00.200 like we're talking about the governor general blowing taxpayers money all around the world

00:12:04.140 or at least the former one, Mary Simon, and previous ones as well.

00:12:07.760 But maybe that's the one that she should be on or him or whoever it is.

00:12:11.420 But Gagne, let me give you some more examples here, right? 0.83

00:12:14.380 Billed taxpayers $107,000, her and her entourage, 0.65

00:12:18.800 going to Japan to pay a courtesy call to Japan's foreign minister.

00:12:25.740 Huh?

00:12:27.480 Pick up the phone if you want to pay a courtesy call.

00:12:30.460 Why are you billing us, you know, six figures, you and your entourage, right?

00:12:33.760 it's these kind of stories um twofold number one people are struggling back home to see

00:12:39.980 these entitled elite let's call them unelected bureaucrats okay wasting our money like that

00:12:47.160 it's it's upsetting it's it's disrespectful but number two um i know you you see the pattern

00:12:53.200 and i'm sorry i'm just gonna say it it starts to seem like some of these bureaucrats some of

00:12:57.960 these unelected senators are just looking for reasons to come up with so that they get the

00:13:02.480 bill taxpayers to travel internationally. Yeah. Yeah. You can go right ahead and say it because 0.87

00:13:07.340 it's bloody well true. She and her entourage also went to an African country of Benin where she

00:13:13.920 learned about the sacred forest of voodoo culture. Now, again, if that's your thing and you love 1.00

00:13:20.500 traveling internationally, like fill your boots. In fact, if you're making over $250,000 already

00:13:27.420 from the taxpayers, here's an idea. How about you spend the money and pay for it yourself?

00:13:33.140 This is an extra catch, and we've already put out the video, so it's okay to talk about it right now, Franco.

00:13:38.120 Remember when Jen found that quote in the online Senate magazine where the Speaker of the Senate was saying how much she liked global travel?

00:13:46.680 There was a quote in there, and then, Franco, we went back to link to it, and it was gone.

00:13:53.000 Do you remember this part of the story?

00:13:54.560 Well, I remember you talking about it, Chris.

00:13:57.740 I talk about a lot of things. Poor Franco. He gets phoned all the time.

00:14:00.640 I just need to talk to him all the time.

00:14:02.480 And so it was gone.

00:14:03.960 And Jen and I like freaked out when we couldn't find the quote.

00:14:06.580 So we went and checked a little tool called the Wayback Machine.

00:14:10.360 Uh-oh.

00:14:10.880 The internet is forever.

00:14:12.700 And we found it.

00:14:13.920 So we haven't gotten a response back from them yet to explain why this one quote from the Senate magazine.

00:14:21.120 Yes, that exists and you pay for it.

00:14:22.660 Which is online.

00:14:23.760 Where the Senate speaker was gushing about her job and how much she likes it and how much she likes international travel.

00:14:29.700 That quote has been deleted.

00:14:31.060 it's down the memory hole so this is part of the accountability thing right Franco like not only

00:14:37.420 are these senators not elected ever nobody ever votes for them we've gotten a little bit of chippy

00:14:42.460 pushback from them when we've talked about how I'm taking these international trips yeah I mean

00:14:48.180 we did right how how dare the plebs uh complain about these very important very important senators 0.98

00:14:56.560 uh wasting our money right how dare we don't we know how good we have it right must be nice having

00:15:02.740 this job essentially forever where nobody Alexi you represent nobody but yourself you only yeah

00:15:09.120 you only represent yourself really and you get paid you know uh quite a substantial six-figure

00:15:14.500 salary right like the base salary so not like uh the speaker but the base salary is what 190,000

00:15:20.880 just over 190 000 bucks i mean i do want to get back to the speaker for one sec chris then you

00:15:26.920 can kind of talk about it because you kind of dealt with that pushback from them but

00:15:29.880 you know even if the speaker of the senate um had some reason to be traveling internationally

00:15:37.420 i mean number one she she doesn't number two why are they spending six figures on of many of these

00:15:44.940 trips it's not even just one trip to japan that was a hundred thousand plus there's a couple of

00:15:50.360 these trips i mean so you're kind of looking for ways to to rack up the taxpayer bill there but

00:15:55.680 number three you know we also have an elected speaker of the house of commons and over the

00:16:00.360 same time period um the unelected speaker of the senate what spent like what was it like um

00:16:07.340 a hundred thousand dollars more than the elected speaker of the house make that make sense yeah

00:16:14.540 you know it's because it's out of sight out of mind i think um and when jen did that big story

00:16:20.220 And we went across Canada showing like which which senator in which provinces.

00:16:25.100 And they use that term loosely because they're elected by no one.

00:16:28.120 OK, the people of these provinces are not electing these people.

00:16:31.020 They're just assigned a label when they're put in there by the prime minister.

00:16:35.100 OK, and we went across Canada and we highlighted some of the spending that was happening.

00:16:39.500 And thank you so much to Post Media.

00:16:41.420 They did a big spread on this.

00:16:42.860 And some of the pushback that we were getting through through the reporters that they were

00:16:47.500 hearing from the Senate was something along the lines of this, and I'm paraphrasing Franco.

00:16:52.240 Oh, we weren't traveling as senators, Franco. We were traveling as part of a parliamentary

00:17:00.600 contingent, a parliamentary team. We were playing a role as part of the team while we were traveling

00:17:08.720 to places a lot of people can't pronounce and can never imagine ever being able to afford going

00:17:14.500 there by themselves ever they weren't traveling as senators per se franco yeah that didn't pass

00:17:20.380 buster with me and you know when i drink too much at my buddy's bachelor party i'm not doing that

00:17:24.840 as franco my wife's husband i'm doing that as franco my buddy's buddy yeah i mean could you

00:17:31.180 imagine how that phone call would work yeah not very well i can actually she ain't buying it and 0.64

00:17:37.220 neither am i when the senators kind of use that type of spin i mean it's absolutely ridiculous

00:17:41.460 you know like i don't know right franco just got married by the way and i think he actually did

00:17:48.620 just go to his best friend's wedding so i like how you're working and experience from your life

00:17:52.360 it's very good it's very authentic all right so franco i gotta say i have to stress i went back

00:17:58.700 through the expenses for the senate and how much it costs because i can still hear people being

00:18:03.300 like well what are we supposed to do okay number one if you want to check on power okay here's an

00:18:08.980 idea let's have recall legislation at the federal level so if we can fire members of parliament from

00:18:15.820 the house of commons in ottawa like we can in alberta then that would be a really good check

00:18:21.340 and british columbia as well oh good point right they've had it since the mid 90s right bc was the

00:18:26.500 first one to bring it in yeah fair i keep forgetting bc's in the middle of a snap election

00:18:31.000 by the way here folks so make sure you stay tuned to that but yeah you're right excuse me bc does

00:18:36.080 have an MLA recall system where they actually did, they were this close to recalling one

00:18:42.080 who is writing in fake letters to the editor of the newspaper, praising the MLA in the area and

00:18:51.160 he got caught doing it. So yeah, BC does have that. Alberta has it. We need to have it at the

00:18:56.280 federal level in Ottawa. And lastly, the expense, the expense, the Senate itself is costing taxpayers

00:19:05.160 is 140 million this year. And I went back over the last decade or so. Franco, it's racked up

00:19:11.000 more than a billion dollars in costs for people. Yeah, I don't know. But if you ask me, do I want

00:19:16.600 a brand new hospital or do I want the Senate for like 10 years? I'm taking the hospital.

00:19:21.980 Yep. Yeah, exactly. Because again, folks, the Senate simply functions as a rubber stamp.

00:19:26.900 That's all it is. And that's a pretty expensive rubber stamp. Franco, I'll give you the last

00:19:31.620 word here. And then I'll get to the closing of the show. We wanted to get the show on the road

00:19:37.420 here for this weekend. So for the Juno news viewers, for the tax fighters out there, for the

00:19:41.440 everyday Albertans who are watching this this weekend, thank you. But the next thing you got

00:19:46.100 to do, you've got to go vote. So on Monday, October 19th, get out and vote. Now the separation

00:19:54.060 question, Franco, is getting all the glitz and glamour. It's the sexier question. But there's

00:19:59.140 nine other questions on those ballot sheets. Question seven, Franco, is do we work with the

00:20:05.640 provinces to abolish the Senate in Ottawa? We're encouraging people to vote yes, and I'm hoping for

00:20:11.280 a good turnout on Monday. Well, I'd be voting yes to abolish the Senate if I was in Alberta.

00:20:16.280 You know, I wish I was so I can vote yes to abolish the Senate. I mean, for three reasons.

00:20:20.620 Number one, huge, huge, huge waste of your money. Number two, they're unelected. They're

00:20:27.120 unaccountable they represent nobody but themselves which makes that waste of money uh really insult

00:20:32.180 to injury number three um you know with respect to people out there uh look past reforms have

00:20:37.820 failed right so the only option now to fix this is to abolish it huge waste of money not uh not

00:20:44.580 elected not accountable and uh look past reforms have failed so folks if you're in alberta make

00:20:49.940 sure you go out there vote in that referendum check out our website or the website scrap the

00:20:54.780 senate.ca. And if you're outside of Alberta, but you want to join the fight to abolish the Senate,

00:20:59.880 to hold these unelected senators accountable, head over to taxpayer.com, sign the petition

00:21:04.300 to abolish the Senate. Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director for the Canadian Taxpayers

00:21:09.760 Federation. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Simmer. You bet. So once again, folks,

00:21:14.860 it is get out the vote time. If you're watching this on the Saturday, you might have a little

00:21:20.120 while left for the last day of advance voting, but then everything is shutting down for Sunday.

00:21:25.740 That's where everybody's revving up for the big day. Monday, October 19th is the referendum day.

00:21:31.820 If you don't know where to go vote, Elections Alberta has got your back. Just click on it,

00:21:37.540 enter in your postal code, enter in your town. They will tell you where you can go vote. And

00:21:41.920 this is the big one for the tax fighters. We know there's lots of questions on there. There's

00:21:46.740 separation. It's, you know, should Alberta appoint its own judges? Should Alberta be able to charge

00:21:51.260 user fees for, you know, newcomers who use our schools and hospitals? All sorts of really

00:21:55.420 important stuff like that. But question seven is, should we work with other provinces to abolish

00:22:02.840 the unelected Senate in Ottawa? Yes. We are encouraging everybody, don't just go yes or no

00:22:09.380 all the way down the ballot. You got to read each question, okay? Because there's 10 really

00:22:13.240 important questions on there. Question seven. It's about the Senate. Vote yes to abolish the

00:22:20.300 Senate. Send a strong message to Ottawa. Thank you so much to Juneau News for being a fighter for a

00:22:26.700 free press. It's why we have the show here with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. If you have not

00:22:31.840 done so, make sure you go to Juneau News and subscribe to it, okay? It is not government

00:22:37.080 funded. It's truly free and independent journalism, which is why you're getting messages like this.

00:22:41.980 And if you haven't done so yet, make sure you like this video, subscribe to the channel.

00:22:47.020 And hey, especially right now, because there's a big vote coming,

00:22:50.280 share this show with people who need to know.

Juno News - October 19, 2026

Does Canada need to abolish the Senate？

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