The Senate on TV

There's talk these days about televising Senate debates (debates in the Senate?!?! what?!?!) so that Canadians have a way to judge new Minister of Public Works Mr. Fortier. The Liberal-controlled Senate could provide a check on the Conservatives power, that is, if they actually took advantage of the Constitutional power that they have. Specifically, all bills must pass through the Senate before they become law. The Liberal-controlled Senate could hold up any bill they didn't agree with. Only thing is that the Senate is unelected, which is why they don't really do much. Many Conservatives want there to be an elected Senate. How that is going to happen I don't know. But Harper has said that he will appoint elected Senators when he gets the chance. Now appointing an elected Senator may sound strange, but the Prime Minister has the Consitutional power to appoint Senators, and the easiest way to get elected Senators into the Senate without Constitutional reform would be for the regions to elect Senators, and then the Prime Minister could "appoint" them. Although in the long term I think a Constitutional amendment would be needed to ensure the Senate is elected.