VOICE OF REGION: THE LONG JOURNEY TO SENATE REFORM IN CANADA White, Randall Toronto, Dundurn Press, 1990. 304pp, paper, $16.95, ISBN 1-55002-054-4. (Current Issues in Historical Perspective no. 2). CIP Grades 12 and up/Ages 17 and up Reviewed by Joan Kerrigan Volume 18 Number 5 1990 September This timely book will be consulted often in the next few years by senior secondary school students and students in post-secondary institutions. Much of the discussion at the Meech Lake deliberations dealt with senate reform, and the failure of the politicians to reach agreement put senate reform on hold yet again. Author Randall White, a consultant on public policy issues, puts this thorny issue into historical perspective, stretching back to 1870. He provides an appropriate framework for interested Canadians to examine the historical background as well as an opportunity to learn about suggestions for reform from a number of informed and interested groups. The title of the book is appropriate because so much of the demand for a reformed senate is generated by a desire on the part of the regions to have an effective voice in Ottawa to counteract, at least to some extent, the power of the more populated central provinces. Included in the suggestions for change are Alberta's plan for a Triple E Senate ("elected, effective, and equal"), the 1984 Report of the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and of the House of Commons on Senate Reform, and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's proposal for reform, which was tabled in 1989 at a first ministers' conference. The wording of the three proposals is included in the appendices. Also included are an extensive selected bibliography and numerous illustrations, most of which are unnecessary in a work such as this. The detailed index, however, will prove useful to students who are preparing essays or seminar presentations. Recommended. Joan Kerrigan, Toronto Board of Education, Toronto, Ont.