QUESTION PERIOD — Privy Council Office
Senate Appointments
September 25, 2024
Leader, on March 9, 2020, an order-in-council reappointed an individual to serve as Saskatchewan’s provincial member on the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments for a term ending on April 30, 2020. Three months prior, that same person was named president of Memorial University — in Newfoundland, not Saskatchewan. She later resigned from the university in disgrace for falsely claiming Indigenous identity, but that is a story for another day.
On May 1, 2020, I put a written question on the Order Paper asking why she had been reappointed to Saskatchewan’s board.
Last week, four and a half years later, the answer was tabled. It said that the appointment was within the purview and was made by the Governor-in-Council.
Leader, is that response sufficient? Don’t you have the resources to do better than that?
Again, senator, thank you for your question. I don’t have any further information to share on that particular matter, though it is regrettable that in the course of one question you’ve managed to impugn both the integrity of the process and the role of Saskatchewan, which has responsibility, along with the federal government, in constituting the committee. The committees for Senate appointments in any given province are joint committees. They’re composed of members from the provinces and those nominated by the federal government.
In any event, it is a continuing practice and a regrettable one, in my humble opinion, of impugning the integrity of the manner in which most of us were appointed to this chamber.
I’m glad you understood the question very clearly and the intent. My question asked if provincial members of the board are required to be residents of the province they represent. I also asked if any Senate seats were filled from lists older than two years, as applications are supposed to be held for only two years.
After four and a half years, leader, I received zero answers to those questions.
There is a reason why we ask questions: We expect answers.
Why does the NDP-Liberal government treat accountability as a joke?
It doesn’t. Again, I stand by my earlier answer. First of all, the fact that one is appointed to head a university in another province does not speak to what their province of residence is, at least, initially. That’s obvious if you have any knowledge of university governance and affairs. The integrity of the appointment process and the members who give of their time to vet those applications are worthy of respect.
