Being chief of staff to the president of the United States seems like a tough job. But while the gig may drip with stature and power, one thing it's decidedly not is high-paying. At least by Canadian standards. This is basically the story at every level of the Canadian government; we're paying more cash to more people to do almost certainly less work than their closest American equivalent.

Last month, when I told my father I had been drafted to join the Senate's Ethics Committee, he nodded his approval. Soon I would watch in horror and helplessness as an aggressive cancer took him away from his family. Now, I return back to work, to an institution that is also under siege. But this time, we are not helpless. Honourable senators, the future of this chamber is in our hands.

Stephen Harper's problem is that he thinks too small. No short-term partisan advantage is too minute for him to pursue and no long-term challenge facing the country is too large for him to ignore. By contrast, we need national leaders who will think forward and think big; who will govern intelligently and respectfully; who will call for a new federalism for the 21st century.

The only antidote to restoring public trust in the wake of the Senate expenses scandal is to "raise the bar" and make parliamentarians expenses more t...

Surely Canadians can spot the difference between a Mike Duffy and a Romeo Dallaire, or between a Pamela Wallin and Muriel Ferguson! The quality of character and intelligence in Senator Hugh Segal simply dwarfs the rather sad record of Patrick Brazeau. The average citizen can sense the distinction a kilometre away. We often forget just how many great Senators have kept rampant politics at bay through reasoned and compelling arguments that often put the present House of Commons to shame. Let's leave the Duffys et al to their fate and consider the others who did our government proud.

Canada's Senate has had a grounded history and its occasional failures were never enough to deflect its effectiveness in the long haul. The great tragedy of recent years is that people have been appointed to undertake the dirty work of parties when it would have been better to keep such shenanigans in the House where partisanship has a role. Politics is killing the Senate; professionalism, cooperation and merit can save it, and our reasoned legislative system in the process.

The government's leader in the Senate says the Senate should be abolished if it can't be reformed, comments that come as Prime Minister Stephen Harper...

OTTAWA - A former RCMP superintendent says he's never seen the degree of political control over the Mounties that exists now, and says it "does not bo...

OTTAWA - The Harper government is praising Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy for showing "leadership" in the Senate expenses scandal.But Liberals say the C...

OTTAWA - Describing himself as a man of his word, embattled Conservative Sen. Mike Duffy says he has repaid more than $90,000 in Senate housing expens...

OTTAWA - Conservative Sen. Pierre-Hughes Boisvenu says the Senate ethics officer told him last year he couldn't keep his girlfriend on his office payr...

OTTAWA - Scott Tannas, founder, president and CEO of Western Financial Group, has been named to the Senate.Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls Tannas ...

OTTAWA - Another Conservative senator is refunding expenses following an examination of residency claims.The Senate's internal economy committee has i...

A Quebec senator who was revealed to be dating a member of his staff is no longer in a romantic relationship with her, his colleagues said Wednesday. ...

OTTAWA - The federal government has suffered a legal setback as Quebec's Court of Appeal refused to suspend its review of Senate reforms.The Quebec go...

MPs are debating a non-binding NDP motion to eliminate the Senate, as controversy continues over the expenses claimed by some senators. Op...

MONTREAL - A Quebec senator is making no apologies for collecting a housing allowance despite living little more than a drive across a bridge from Par...

A former Conservative senator, whose nomination to the upper chamber once drew considerable controversy, says it's time to do away with the Red Chambe...

MONTREAL - An opposition MP says a media report on a Conservative senator's expense claims is part of a disturbing pattern that points to bigger probl...

Senator Mike Duffy is eligible for his Prince Edward Island seat in the Senate, his party's Senate leader said Thursday. A Senate committ...

Documents filed by Gatineau police to obtain the Feb.7 search warrant used to gather evidence to support assault and sexual assault charges against Se...

There are clerks in the chamber and working with committees, is it so hard to take attendance? Would it be so difficult to have a simple web site that keeps track of a Member of Parliament's attendance, one that the public or media can check? Are we letting MPs have a free ride?

The federal government will seek clarification from the Supreme Court on its powers to reform or abolish the Senate, the Minister of State for Democra...

The Canadian Senate, our Senate, has just released its report on the "management" of grey seal populations on Canada's East Coast and recommends spending millions in taxpayer dollars on an "experiment" that is so incredibly flawed that, whatever the result, it will be entirely unreliable.