An elected Senate?

The Globe and Mail had an interesting article online today about the modification of the Canadian Senate into an elected body through Bill C-43.

The article brings up issues regarding the original reason for an appointed Senate as opposed to an elected body. An appointed Senate is theoretically free from the political pressure of an elected body, and the best people for the job could be selected and could operate based on their abilities, not a party agenda.

However, the big problem with this is that the position is still political! Even though the senators are appointed, the positions are largely partisan and as a reward for past service to the party.

So will an elected Senate fix this problem? Not necessarily, instead we just have a quicker change of the makeup. What would fix it? I don't know, but its definitely an issue to consider.