| Reference Re Senate Reform | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Hearing: 14 November 2013 Judgment: 25 April 2014 | |
| Full case name | IN THE MATTER OF a Reference by the Governor in Council concerning reform of the Senate, as set out in Order in Council P.C. 2013-70, dated February 1, 2013 |
| Citations | 2014 SCC 32 |
| Docket No. | 352031 |
| Holding | |
| Term limits and consultative elections for the Senate cannot be implemented by Parliament alone, but requires approval via the 7/50 amending formula; abolishing the Senate requires unanimous consent of all provinces | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief Justice: Beverley McLachlin Puisne Justices: Louis LeBel, Rosalie Abella, Marshall Rothstein, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver, Andromache Karakatsanis, Richard Wagner | |
| Reasons given | |
| Unanimous reasons by | The Court |
Reference Re Senate Reform [2014] 1 S.C.R. 704, 2014 SCC 322 was a reference question to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the constitutional validity of proposals to change the Senate, such as term limits, consultative elections, and abolition. The ruling was announced April 2014, following arguments made in November 2013. The court decided that term limits and consultative elections could not be done by the Federal Government alone through Parliament, but also required the consent of seven provinces representing more than 50% of the population, in accordance with the lower of two thresholds for the constitutional amending formula.34 The court also ruled that Senate abolition would require the higher threshold for amendment: Parliamentary approval plus consent of all ten provinces.34
References
References
- SCC Case Information - Docket 35203 Supreme Court of Canada
- "Reference re Senate Reform - SCC Cases". decisions.scc-csc.ca. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
- "High court says no to unilateral Senate reform". Maclean's. Canadian Press. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- Macfarlane, Emmett (25 April 2014). "Did the Supreme Court just kill Senate reform?". Maclean's. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
Further reading
Further reading
- Dodek, Adam (2015). "The Politics of the Senate Reform Reference: Fidelity, Frustration, and Federal Unilateralism". McGill Law Journal. 60 (4): 623–672. 2015 CanLIIDocs 390.
- Glover, Kate (2014). "Structure, Substance and Spirit: Lessons in Constitutional Architecture from the Senate Reform Reference". Supreme Court Law Review. 67: 221–255.
- Macfarlane, Emmett (2021). Constitutional pariah: reference re Senate Reform and the future of Parliament. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-6622-4.
- Pal, Michael (2016). "Constitutional Amendment After the Senate Reference and the Prospects for Electoral Reform". Supreme Court Law Review. 76: 377–398. 2016 CanLIIDocs 4519.