The main issue the government would have to address in the form of a referendum question is the relationship of the Senate to the House of Commons and whether the Senate would have an absolute veto or a suspensive veto.

5. Consider imbalanced the position of the Commission that “shareholders own companies” and thus should have absolute veto rights on major decisions; tends to prefer the European continental approach that shareholders own shares to provide investments for companies, but that companies and their one-tier or two-tier management structures have a broader mission than only making profits for their shareholders; requests a broader fundamental debate about the ownership – control relationship and the European traditions of company law;

3. Disputes the position taken by the Commission that ‘shareholders own companies’ and thus should have absolute veto rights on major decisions. Tends to prefer the continental European view that shareholders own shares, notes that they often have a restricted focus on their own financial interests at the stock market, whereas the one-tier or two-tier managements of companies have a broader mission than only making profits for their shareholders; and urges a more fundamental debate about the ownership-control relationship and the European traditions of company law, and a more in-depth analysis of the impact of the major differences in c ...[+++]ompany financing in Europe, particularly between the Anglo-Saxon tradition, where a dispersed share ownership via the financial markets is dominant, and the continental tradition characterised by a major role for banks and majority shareholders.

It has been ignored for too long, it is an absolute outrage and the Government in Khartoum cannot be allowed to get away with it any longer. It cannot hide behind other countries which say that they will veto any action taken against Sudan.

Replace the present absolute veto with a suspensive veto, give senators one nine-year term, have them elected on a regional basis, and then let us stop kidding ourselves about a non-partisan Senate.

Sections 43 and 47 of the Constitution Act, 1982 , as constitutional experts who testified before the Committee reminded us, " gives precedence to the elected legislatures the House of Commons and the provincial legislative body in consideration of the amendments by providing the Senate with a suspensive veto as opposed to an absolute veto" [Testimony of Dr. Kathy Brock, June 18, 1996, 1010-1].