Senators Representation of Constituents
Senators have the same constitutional provisions to offer services as members of the House of Commons. This includes a rarely used provision to maintain a constituency office. Three senators currently have such offices. Two of the three have not designated themselves to a specific divisions, but to represent their province as a whole. While constituency offices are rare, all senators maintain an office on Parliament Hill.
One feature of the Canadian Senate that sets itself apart from the House of Commons is the introduction of a Private bill. The cost to introduce a private bill in the Senate is $200 compared to $500 for one in the House. Prior to 1961, senators had a lot more "constituency work" because divorce was in the purview of Parliament. There is no legal obligation for providing constituency services.
Read more about this topic: Canadian Senate Divisions
Famous quotes containing the words senators and/or constituents:
“We shall have to begin all over again. [Taft hoped that] the Senators might change their minds, or that the people might change the Senate; instead of which they changed me.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality,—that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient? chooses the available candidate,—who is invariably the devil,—and what right have his constituents to be surprised, because the devil does not behave like an angel of light? What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of probity,—who recognize a higher law than the Constitution, or the decision of the majority.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)