Then, select people to sit in it, randomly, like jury duty, paid at least as much as they are for their ordinary work. It should not be compulsory. Each should be there for a year, but not all starting and finishing at the same time.

It should result in a lot more ‘commoners’ being able to understand politics, and hopefully take the present elected political system past its current, low, maturity level.

Canada’s current Prime Minister wants Canada’s senate to be elected! I assume the Canadian senate is much like the British House of Lords?

In Canada the senate can delay but not stop constitutional amendments. The senate can vote down any other legislation, but it’s very rare (and the Prime Minister can get the Queen of England to appoint up to 8 extra senators in a pinch to get legislation through). They can initiate new legislation, but I think this is also quite rare. Mostly I imagine they act as 105 “concerned citizens” who don’t have to worry about working for a living. They also have some budget and media air-time they can use to shed light on any truly horrible government legislation that might pass in front of them. The wikipedia entry says they’re often good at making minor fixes to legislation.

I totally agree with your sentiment: they serve a DIFFERENT function compared to the house of commons. Electing them would just turn it into more of the same.

I, for one, hope Canada keeps the Senate around in its current form.

Interesting to hear that the mother country is having similar issues.