An open letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Jean Chrétien.

Dear Mr. Chrétien,

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Brendan Myers. I am a Canadian citizen, residing in the federal riding of Guelph-Wellington, in the province of Ontario. I recently graduated with a Masters' degree in philosophy from the University of Guelph. Graduation has thrust me into our wide and uncertain world, and both my sense of commitment to Canada as well as my poverty compels me to serve my country through some form of useful and fulfilling paid employment. Therefore I appeal to you, the Prime Minister, who is the only person in the country who can offer me the job I have wanted since childhood: an appointment to the Senate of Canada.

Senators are not elected, and so, it is often argued, do not represent the people of Canada and are not accountable to them. It seems to me, however, that democracy entails far more than rule by the majority: it entails rule by certain beliefs and ideas. The beliefs and ideas that rule a democracy are encoded into our constitution and our laws, and are open to perpetual debate, revision, and scrutiny; moreover the debate is something that everyone may join, and is free from intimidation by wealth or military force and so therefore may be based entirely on reason and right. Such debate is the essence of democracy. The unique feature of Canadian democracy is that the debate is the means for Canada's three founding nations, the English, the French, and the Aboriginal, to understand and accept one another, share our accomplishments, and live together peacefully. But such debate is also open to abuse and misdirection. Two hundred thousand people, which is the average population of a federal constituency, really can be wrong. They can be charmed by the fashion and image or marketing; they can be misled by slogan-repetition; they can be blinded by short-term gain. They can even have their spirits broken, as shown by the common belief that life in Canada is not ideal but still better than available alternatives: thus people resign themselves to their poverty and powerlessness and continue to elect governments who merely maintain the status-quo. I subscribe to the view that life in Canada is not ideal but workable alternatives to improve Canada really do exist.

Senators, because they are not elected and (at least in theory) have no partisan affiliations, are somewhat above the changing vicissitudes of popular irrationality. Their accountability is to the law. It is similar for the Governor General, which is also an appointed position: Adrian Clarkson is also accountable to the law, but her function is not so much to enter the debate, as it is to impart a sense of dignity to the government and the exercise of power. It edifies and uplifts a country to have someone to preside almost as a ritual leader over the nation's rites of passage. Likewise, it dignifies a government to have an assembly whose members speak for the intelligence, reason, honour, and erudition of the nation, working alongside and in partnership with an assembly whose members speak for the people who elected them.

But the frank truth that all Canadians know is that few Senators have upheld this lofty obligation. Perhaps this has been because too many Senators have been corrupt, blatantly partisan, interested only in themselves or their class, "only human", or otherwise unready to make proper use of their privilege. We know that Senators retain their partisan affiliations although they should not: that is how your predecessor, Mr. Mulrooney, passed the GST. The blame for this goes partly to the Senators themselves and also to the Prime Ministers who appoint them. I present before you, Mr. Chrétien, an opportunity to alleviate your office of its share of the blame by appointing better Senators, and I offer myself as an example of someone who would make an excellent Senator.

It seems incumbent upon me to make some promises regarding what I will or will not do if appointed. First and foremost, I certainly promise to have the best attendance record of any Senator; my vacations will not span entire years in Mexican resorts, and my other absences will be for illness, family responsibility, or other legitimate reason. I also promise to act in my capacity as a Senator according to the ambitious and spiritual principles outlined in this letter: to be accountable to the ideals of peace, justice, reason, and love for the cultural, occupational, and environmental life of our country.

There are certain qualifications that I possess. I have proven committee and leadership experience, gained not only through my graduate degree in philosophy, but also my time as president of my local labour union (CUPE local 3913). This experience has also taught me how to stand up to power, especially the corporate interests who constantly bully the people of Canada and its government with threats to remove jobs and investments to other countries, thereby disemploying thousands, if their demands for privatization, reduced wages, weakened environmental regulations, and curtailed worker's rights, are not met. Indeed as a Senator I will help this country reclaim its sovereignty from the corporations and trans-national trade bodies who, through their trade and investment treaties, have covertly emasculated Canada's dignity and castrated its power. I also have much sensitivity to the needs of the environment, which I regard as the issue which will dominate politics when pollution-induced climactic instability, and the attendant weather disasters, becomes all the more unignorable. Pollution is swiftly making our shared natural habitats unlivable for humans and animals, and our current rate of resource consumption is utterly unsustainable. We need workable alternatives, and we need them now.

As a Senator I will propose in the Senate the sort of workable alternatives developed by The Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives, the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Federation of Students, Greenpeace, the First Nations, and others who, for the most part, have been unable to bend the ear of the powerful in this country, no matter how true and important the facts they report are. Some of the leaders in these groups are also worthy candidates for appointment to the Senate, and I would feel deeply honoured to serve beside them. The Fraser Institute, the BCNI, the Trilateral Commission, and other monied interests already have their own spokespersons in Parliament, but few indeed are those who speak for the people, or who speak for the land. It is my chosen life occupation to speak with the voice of the land and the people, and the most effective way to do so that I can see is as a public servant. An appointment at my young age would enable me to serve Canada this way for half a century. I promise that your fulfillment of my dream will result in the praise of millions of registered voters.

There are two qualifications which the Constitution requires of its Senators, which I do not possess: I do not own $4000, nor do I own property. This particular law was instituted in our Constitution back in 1867, when $4000 was worth much more than it is now, to prevent radical young upstarts from working class backgrounds like myself from denting the hegemony of the wealthy landed aristocracy. This sum is considered peanuts now, but I am only recently emerged from the Spartan austerity of the student loan programme. The wealth criteria for appointment to the Senate can only serve to maintain a such an aristocracy, for it speaks not of intelligence, commitment, communication ability, experience, industriousness, or any of the other human factors which potential employers seek when hiring for any other job in the country (except perhaps Member of Parliament, in which the criteria appears to be how good one looks on television, and how committed the candidate is to the demands of big business). Therefore Canada's Senators have been a remarkable spectrum, as far as human qualifications go: our Senators have been some of Canada's most laudable benefactors as well as a few idiots and fools.

It would be an extraordinary, abundantly praiseworthy, and precedent-setting act of largesse if you were to call a constitution conference for the exclusive purpose of removing this out-dated and imperialist law. Or, additionally, you could get the Board of Internal Economy to give to me sufficient funds to meet the money criteria, perhaps in the form of a tax-deductible business expense, or an advance payment of salary.

A third qualification which the Constitution requires that I do not possess is that I have not yet reached the full age of thirty years. It seems somewhat odd that a person who is deemed old enough to run for office in the House of Commons, to vote, or even to die for Canada as a soldier in its armed forces, should not also be a candidate for appointment to the Senate. Perhaps you can change the age criterion too. At twenty-six years old, my presence in the Senate would be the only voice for the youth of this country, whom, I need not remind you, will inherit the nation when your generation enters retirement. In recent years, the voice of my generation has been silenced by chemical weapons: "pepper spray", used as a crowd control device, was banned by the Geneva Convention. If our military used it in combat, Canada would be guilty of war crimes. But for some reason, the RCMP has evaded this charge.

If you prefer for me to wait until July of 2004, when I reach thirty years, I would be willing to work until then as the Governor of the Bank of Canada, a position which I understand has come available recently. I could list all the reasons why a philosopher is better suited than an economist for that position: but I will restrain myself and list only one, which I believe to be the most important. The decisions that the Governor must make are decisions that ultimately affect the lives of millions of people, not only in Canada but around the world through Canada's investments. The Governor of the Bank of Canada is arguably more powerful than you, Mr. Chrétien-- and you are the Prime Minister! The Bank's policies, by establishing the availability or scarcity of money, invariably creates the conditions of wealth or poverty, vitality or suffering, freedom or bondage, in which we all must live. These decisions must therefore be made by someone whose expertise is in matters of ethics and morality, which is taught by philosophy. Incidentally, Senators must make the same kinds of decisions when a bill is put before them.

Philosophers will not be hypnotized by the numbers, figures, equations, and calculations of economic fact-reporting into thinking that economics is a value-neutral science. Philosophers are not prone to forget that behind all the charts, graphs, and fiscal policies, exist human beings making choices, and who have feelings, dreams, pains, joys, and certain inalienable human rights. The philosopher's commitment to understanding things at the deepest level of organizing principle renders them far less susceptible to confusing reality with representation. Again, this should also be a qualification for Senator.

I do not wish to be construed as saying that all economists and businessmen are unethical people, or that only philosophers are capable of intelligence. I am sure that Conrad Black is kind to animals and small children, which is of course why he was selected for knighthood. But economic advisors seem ready and willing to commit our country to programmes that require mass unemployment, widespread impoverishment, and the cutback of social services on which millions depend for their life, in order to achieve a general economic well-being that is postulated for the future but never in reality attained. This is why we hear so much about "harsh sacrifices" and "tightening our belts". The real duty, as Oscar Wilde once put it, is to arrange society so that poverty would not be possible. Re-defining what it means to be poor through manipulating economic figures is not the same thing.

You may fear that appointing me to the Senate would start a flood of letters from Canadians also interested in holding important appointed positions in the civil service. I urge you not to fear it, but to welcome it. What better way can there be to discover who your fellow Canadians are, who among them is committed to Canada, and by appointing some of them, including myself, what better way to prove that your rule is a true democracy and not a partisan and single-minded plutocracy?

I remain sincerely yours,
Brendan Myers

Cc: Brenda Chamberlain, MP for Guelph-Wellington
Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General