Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson moved second reading of Bill S-228, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (property qualifications of Senators).

He said: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Bill S-228, An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 (property qualifications of Senators).

This marks my third attempt to bring forward such a bill, though similar versions were also introduced by our former colleague the late senator Tommy Banks. I am touched to mention this dear departed colleague of ours because I know that Senator Banks was heartened when I promised him I would carry the torch on this bill when he retired from the Senate.

Because I have made other speeches in this chamber about this bill, I will keep my comments brief.

The bill seeks to remove the $4,000-net-worth requirement for all senators, as well as the $4,000 property requirement for all senators except those coming from Quebec. At the same time I tabled this bill, I also tabled a motion, which I will speak to today, that deals with the property requirements in Quebec. Stay tuned, because I will have more to say on that topic later.

I have introduced this bill and its accompanying motion for two main reasons. The first is that this bill would erase a major gatekeeper for prospective new senators — a major barrier for some. I believe that when we hear from Canadians with diverse cultural backgrounds, different faiths and varying lived experience, we are all the better for it. Diversity is Canada’s strength and therefore should be represented in its institutions. In the Senate, our diversity — happily — engenders lively, rich and well-rounded debates and enhances our ability to speak up on issues important to minority populations and regional concerns. That is one of the mandates of the chamber and one that I am ardently committed to.

However, at this moment, we have requirements that were originally created to keep the masses out; we have requirements that have sought to ensure that this venerable institution was ruled only by wealthy landowners meant to temper the great unwashed who ruled the other place.

Here are the facts: According to a post by Consolidated Credit Canada, as of November 2021:

Canadians now have an average of a $1.73 debt for every dollar they earn. A large amount, which totals $2.1 trillion dollars of debt in the country. . . .

A February 16, 2022, Global News report tells that:

The purchasing power of Canadians waned further last month as wages were outpaced by an annual inflation rate that topped five per cent for the first time in more than 30 years.

The annual inflation rose to 5.1 per cent in January compared with a gain for 4.8 per cent in December, Statistics Canada reported . . . driven higher by prices for housing, gasoline and groceries.

Over the same stretch, wages rose by 2.4 per cent, a gap in purchasing power inflamed by rising costs for essentials like food that often hit lower-income households the hardest.

Finally, the National Post, in a June 17, 2021, article, listed the many factors that have contributed to sky-high real estate prices that have made home ownership impossible for many Canadians. This list includes foreign investors who have purchased “vast swaths of the Canadian housing market as investment properties.”

They go on to explain that even though foreign buyers make up only a relatively small percentage of the total housing market:

. . . only a small fraction of a city’s housing market will come up for sale in a typical year, even a moderate amount of outside cash thrown into the mix can tip the scales into the realm of $1 million teardowns. Stock prices, for instance, are routinely sent into the stratosphere by buyers bidding up a small fraction of a company’s available shares.

Another factor they list is the issue of zoning bylaws that are geared solely toward single-family detached homes and the lack of developable land that is severely constraining the supply of available houses in the midst of an ever-growing population.

The National Post explains that:

. . . Canada’s per-capita supply of housing units is lower than in any other G7 country. Canada’s high rate of migration helps to increase supply pressures, but it’s no excuse for such an acute housing shortage given that, proportionally, our rate of in-migration is lower than Germany, the U.K. and even Switzerland.

Finally, the article lists the surging cost of construction burdened by increased land transfer taxes, increased municipal taxes and fees collected from home builders, supply chain issues and “a latticework of local regulations.”

They go on to say that:

Even before the construction industry became blindsided by recent spikes in the costs of lumber and other materials, the average Canadian home was already getting progressively more expensive to approve and build. And with so many Canadians existing on the absolute margins of home ownership, each new cost comes at the expense of pushing another demographic of families out of the market.

Colleagues, I’m sure none of this is new to any of you. We’ve heard for years about rising inflation costs and wages that don’t keep up with the increasing cost of food and other necessities. We know that Canadians are getting priced out of home ownership. All of this matters when we talk about this bill.

There are middle-class folks in their thirties and forties who feel they can never attain home ownership. Some of them are living in our basements. In 20 years, these future leaders in their fields, whose voices we deserve to hear from, would not qualify to be members of this chamber. By keeping these requirements in place, we are, in fact, going backwards rather than forward. We are returning to a time when only wealthy landowners have the privilege of participating in the upper house.

My mind always lingers on an August 12, 2016, article by the CBC entitled “Property condition dissuades Stratford woman from applying, but doesn’t dissuade Mi’kmaq Senate candidate.”

The article tells the story of two women from P.E.I., both of whom were Senate hopefuls. Kelly Robinson, a long-time and well-known resident of Stratford, P.E.I., who has worked in non‑profit and community organizations, was upset to see the $4,000 property requirement. She stated:

It felt like it was going back to when only landowners could vote, only landowners could be certain things . . . And I just thought that is not the Canada that I’m in or that I thought I was in. I think it’s a very old rule that hasn’t been properly confronted yet.

The second woman was P.E.I. Mi’kmaq filmmaker Eliza Knockwood, who didn’t own $4,000 in property. She applied anyway, with her supporters pledging to find a way around that if nominated. However, while that may have been possible under the old way of naming senators — such as was done in the well‑known case of senator Peggy Butts, a nun who had sworn a vow of poverty — my newer colleagues will know that the Selection Committee will not even consider your application unless you meet all the basic requirements such as age, residence, net worth and property. How many more qualified voices and perspectives are we missing here today because of these antiquated requirements?

The second — and more personal — reason that I have doggedly pursued this change is the fact that I am one of the very few in Nunavut who owns property with freehold title. Through a series of plebiscites, Nunavummiut residents have reinforced the Inuit principle that no one owns the land. Outside of Crown land and a few grandfathered plots, homeowners own the structure but are only leasing the land it sits on.

According to section 23(3) of the Constitution Act, 1867, which outlines the qualifications of a senator, “He” — and I’ll take a moment to point out how antiquated this is in that it still assumes only men are appointed senators, but that’s a side point. See if you can understand this:

He shall be legally or equitably seised as of Freehold for his own Use and Benefit of Lands or Tenements held in Free and Common Socage, or seised or possessed for his own Use and Benefit of Lands or Tenements held in Franc-alleu or in Roture, within the Province for which he is appointed . . .

Having trained in the law, I can tell you that no one uses such terms as “common socage” anymore and haven’t for many years.

More importantly, I contend that the requirement for freehold title would strictly disqualify not only Inuit in Nunavut but also First Nations homeowners who hold land allocated by Certificates of Possession granted by the minister or “CP lands,” as they are known, which are technically leased from the Government of Canada. It may not even apply — there are some opinions — to those who only own condominiums, since the land is technically owned by the condominium corporation.

Honourable senators, there is no need for these requirements. Your ability to perform your duties is not dependent on whether or not you own property or have a particular net worth. According to the Supreme Court of Canada decision of April 25, 2014 rendered in response to a series of reference questions on Senate reform initiated by former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Supreme Court of Canada stated that:

We conclude that the net worth requirement (s. 23(4)) can be repealed by Parliament under the unilateral federal amending procedure. However, a full repeal of the real property requirement (s. 23(3)) requires the consent of Quebec’s legislative assembly, under the special arrangements procedure. Indeed, a full repeal of that provision would also constitute an amendment in relation to s. 23(6), which contains a special arrangement applicable only to the province of Quebec.

I will get to that special arrangement portion in my next speech on the motion I’ll be introducing today, but I would like to end this speech by emphasizing that the decision states Parliament can, indeed, unilaterally remove the net worth requirement for all senators and the real property requirement for every senator except those in Quebec, which this bill aims to do. We do not need to invoke the amending formula and involve provinces, apart from the special situation I mentioned in Quebec.

Colleagues, I do hope I can count on your support for this bill to modernize and reform the Senate. Thank you, qujannamik.

Hon. Dennis Glen Patterson, pursuant to notice of November 25, 2021, moved:

Whereas the Senate provides representation for groups that are often underrepresented in Parliament, such as Aboriginal peoples, visible minorities and women;

Whereas paragraph (3) of section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1867 requires that, in order to be qualified for appointment to and to maintain a place in the Senate, a person must own land with a net worth of at least four thousand dollars in the province for which he or she is appointed;

Whereas a person’s personal circumstances or the availability of real property in a particular location may prevent him or her from owning the required property;

Whereas appointment to the Senate should not be restricted to those who own real property of a minimum net worth;

Whereas the existing real property qualification is inconsistent with the democratic values of modern Canadian society and is no longer an appropriate or relevant measure of the fitness of a person to serve in the Senate;

Whereas, in the case of Quebec, each of the twenty-four Senators representing the province must be appointed for and must have either their real property qualification in or be resident of a specified Electoral Division;

Whereas an amendment to the Constitution of Canada in relation to any provision that applies to one or more, but not all, provinces may be made by proclamation issued by the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada only where so authorized by resolutions of the Senate and House of Commons and of the legislative assembly of each province to which the amendment applies;

Whereas the Supreme Court of Canada has determined that a full repeal of paragraph (3) of section 23 of the Constitution Act, 1867, respecting the real property qualification of Senators, would require a resolution of the Quebec National Assembly pursuant to section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982;

Now, therefore, the Senate resolves that an amendment to the Constitution of Canada be authorized to be made by proclamation issued by Her Excellency the Governor General under the Great Seal of Canada in accordance with the Schedule hereto.

SCHEDULE

AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF CANADA

I, A.B., do declare and testify that I am by law duly qualified to be appointed a member of the Senate of Canada.

He said: Honourable senators, I rise again today, but this time to speak to Motion No. 19, which seeks to remove the real property requirements for senators hailing from La Belle Province.

As you know from my speech earlier today, this motion is connected with the intent of my Bill S-228, to remove net worth and property requirements from senators’ qualifications as listed in the Constitution Act, 1867. I would like to stress again that it does not remove the requirement that is in the Constitution Act which requires senators to be resident in the province or territory they represent.

Again, I draw your attention to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision of April 25, 2014, which concluded:

. . . a full repeal of the real property requirement (s. 23(3)) requires the consent of Quebec’s legislative assembly, under the special arrangements procedure. Indeed, a full repeal of that provision would also constitute an amendment in relation to s. 23(6), which contains a special arrangement applicable only to the province of Quebec.

The Supreme Court of Canada decision elaborates on the arguments that led them to such a decision, saying:

The Attorney General of Quebec contends that the repeal of the real property qualification in s. 23(3) would affect the operation of s. 23(6), which allows Quebec Senators to either reside in the electoral division for which they are appointed or to fulfill their real property qualification in that division. It follows, in his view, that Quebec’s consent is required to repeal the provision.

Colleagues in this chamber are already familiar with the special arrangement referred to in the decision: The Constitution can be amended in matters specific to a province or territory by having a motion adopted in the Senate, in the other place and in the provincial or territorial assembly. This is very similar to the Saskatchewan Act amendment currently being actively considered by this chamber.

For colleagues who may not know about the additional qualification requirement faced by our colleagues from Quebec, section 23(6) of the Constitution Act, 1867 states that:

In the Case of Quebec he shall have his Real Property Qualification in the Electoral Division for which he is appointed, or shall be resident in that Division.

As Quebec senators well know, there are 24 electoral divisions in Quebec. Historically, these divisions were created on linguistic and religious lines, separating anglophones from francophones and Catholics from Protestants. These divisions, as I feel most would agree, are no longer relevant today.

Further, it requires Quebec senators to own property in a region that they may well not live in, meaning that several senators face the additional burden of owning another property on top of their primary residence if they are not already resident in the electoral district they were appointed to represent.

I would also point out to senators that these 24 districts are anachronistic. They are focused on the southern part of the province and do not account for Nunavik and the territory of the James Bay Cree.

Our former colleague, senator Charlie Watt, in fact, owned property in southern Quebec that he had never laid eyes on.

Given the irrelevance of these divisions in this modern age and given the many arguments I made earlier today against the elitism and exclusion and barriers perpetuated by property requirements in general, I am asking senators for their support in moving this motion forward, alongside my Senate public Bill S-228.

Thank you, honourable senators. Taima.