The Conservative government re-introduced two bills Tuesday that would lead to provincially elected senators and shorter Senate terms, warning that it would support the abolition of the upper chamber if the changes are blocked.

Calling the Senate an "artifact of a long time ago," government House leader Peter Van Loan announced the revival of the two Senate reform bills, originally presented to the Senate during the last session of Parliament.

"[The bills] will allow Canadians to pass judgment on the conduct of senators," said Van Loan. "Senators will now have to be accountable for the decisions they
make, the work they do and the pay they receive. Accountability — the basis of democracy — will finally come to the Senate."

The first bill calls for provincial referendums to choose preferred candidates for vacant seats in the upper house. The prime minister would then choose senators based on the results of those votes. Currently, senators are selected by the prime minister and appointed by the Governor General without public input. Two provinces, Alberta and B.C., eventually passed legislation that provided for Senate elections.

The second bill restricts senators to eight-year terms, rather than the existing limit of up to 45 years until the age of 75. This legislation changed slightly from its first introduction to clarify that senators would only be allowed to serve one term.

When the bills were introduced in 2006, several provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, argued that the Senate could not be reformed without provincial consent. This prompted Liberal senators to shelve the bill indefinitely, and the reforms languished on the order bill until Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament this fall.

This time, the bills have been introduced first in the House of Commons, with the hope that if they receive approval from the opposition parties, the Senate will be persuaded to pass them into law. Such an outcome would allow Harper to reform the Senate without reworking the Constitution, which would require co-operation from the provinces.

Van Loan said the government is open to changing some of the details of the reform agenda, adding that if the bills are blocked, the government would support abolishing the Senate.

"The Senate must change. And if that change cannot happen through reform, then we believe that the Senate should be abolished," he said, adding that abolition was not the government's "preferred route. We prefer to try to reform the Senate before resolving to abolish it."

The prime minister has suggested that his government would consider supporting an NDP motion, initially expected to be introduced Tuesday but delayed until later this week, calling for a referendum on the future of the upper chamber.