With the Senate reform bill on the table, the all-too-familiar debate on the relevance of the Senate sweeps this nation once again. Status quo, reform, or abolition; these are the same three options facing us Canadians.

If there is a need for a sober second thought on the Senate question, a nationwide referendum will fulfil that need. Enough of this unending back-and-forward between politicians and pundits on what we should do with the Senate. This important discussion needs to be brought to the people and what better way to do that than a nationwide referendum. Canadians ought to be given not only a chance to debate this issue but also a power to decide on it. There is no mistake on what the recent Angus Reid poll suggests: majority of Canadians approve of having a referendum. They want the power to decide whether or not Canada needs an unelected Senate that stands above their elected parliament.

The arguments for and against the Senate have been exhausted in the national media. Hundreds of hours of TV air-time and pages of newspaper have been filled with opinions of all sorts. Many would like to think that this somehow represents democracy in Canada, where in reality it is nothing but an illusion of democracy. We spend countless hours in front of our TVs watching political commentators slugging it out. At work we engage our co-workers on why we agree or disagree with what we heard last night on the television. However, at the end of the day, we are merely glorified spectators.

There aren’t too many serious arguments against holding a referendum. In fact, one will find very few articles out there against the idea. It is as if either the opponents of the referendum don’t have anything to back up their position, or they simply ignore it with the hope that the issue will get buried over time. However, let’s try to look at some of them.

Those who are against having a referendum because they are against abolishing the Senate or even reforming the Senate should not be taken seriously. A right to opposition does not extend to preventing others from exercising their democratic right to choose.

Then there are those who say that it would be a waste of taxpayers’ money. With almost $100 million a year spent to maintain the Senate, a referendum that costs two or three times of that — assuming that it will cost roughly the same as the federal election, which is around $280 million — is worth having if it is going to settle the question for decades to come. After all, there is no price tag too expensive for exercising democracy. If our government can spend $18 billion on war in Afghanistan, which is supposedly carried out to bring democracy to that part of the world, then we can spend a fraction of that war budget to bring a little democracy to our home.

The very same people who defend the unelected nature of the Senate as a safeguard against people’s mob mentality argue that a matter of such importance cannot be decided by simpletons. The Senate is there to protect people from themselves. Regular Canadians are just too ignorant to be able to give a sober thought on any issue, let alone the fate of the Senate. The basis of such thinking is contempt for the masses, and much like faith there is no rational argument one can use against that.

The decision to hold a referendum now rests with the Conservatives. However, their track records in democracy give little confidence that they will hold one. Using another archaic 19th-century institution — the governor-general — Stephen Harper has suspended the parliament, twice. He then proceeded to appoint three Conservatives who were defeated in the last federal election as senators. The Liberals are not any better. While in power they stacked the Senate with their supporters, and now out of power, defeated and crushed, they talk of abolishing it. The NDP has been the only the party with a consistent program on the Senate question, and their conviction to this program will be tested once they are in the government — a prospect that has become more plausible.

A referendum will not only settle the Senate question decisively but also engage all layers of the population in a discussion on the governance of our society. The latter is probably more important than anything else. People will be empowered by the referendum and its process. It will arouse their political consciousness. Many will, for the first time in their life, start thinking about what democracy is really about and how it is going to affect them, because the Senate question touches upon the very basis of our democracy. This is the true worth of a referendum.

Ted Sprague is a labour activist and an independent journalist based in Ottawa. You can follow his other writings on his blog Red Star Over Asia.