In Canada, we like to think we're so much better than Communist China.

We like to think that whereas Canada is a democracy, China's government is non-democratic.

Well, what's so "democratic" about our Senate for starters.

Remember when the newly elected Justin Trudeau had promised us a reformed and "independent" Senate that would re-invigorate our parliamentary democracy?

The new Senators under Trudeau don't have political party labels.  But these new Senators most certainly have not rose to power from a democratic system.

Here's how Trudeau's "new" Senate system works.

A secretive committee branded the "Independent Senate Advisory Group" selects from candidates who are then vetted in a secret process during secret times.

Any Canadian who tries to call the ISG about would-be Senators in their province will be quickly rebuffed by an anonymous person on the telephone; and who will declare that they are not at liberty to disclose any information about the process but that the outcome of the ISG's decision will be posted on their website after Justin Trudeau has decided to confirm the new Senate appointee.

Try emailing them, and you will get a curt reply with no name attached to it other than "Independent Senate Advisory Group".

And if you decide to actually trace the affiliations of all the new Senators, you will soon discover that they are all from the same political in-breds and backroom manipulators who have ruled Canada from time immemorial.

Representatives of marginalized communities are clearly not welcomed in Justin Trudeau's Senate which springs from a process and "culture of elitism and authoritarianism" that's no better than either Communist China or Africa's "banana republics".

Canada's Senate fails miserably when it comes to openness in the selection process, transparency, accountability and representation of Canadians who lack equitable representation in the House of Commons -- and that is supposedly central to the Senate's existence in the first place.