New Senate appointments process should stay: Senator Dalphond
Tags
Since the 2015 election, the Senate of Canada has transformed from an echo chamber for the lines of the Liberal and Conservative parties into a valuable institution of sober second thought, as originally contemplated.
This transformation rests on a commitment made in 2015 by former prime minister Justin Trudeau to invite Canadians of all stripes to apply to the Senate, and to appoint only persons who have been recommended by an Independent Advisory Board. The 100 senators appointed through the new system were all told that they were independent from the government. Most of them have since affiliated with either the Progressive Senate Group, the Canadian Senators Group or the Independent Senators Group. These three recognized Senate parliamentary groups act independently from Canada’s political parties, and don’t caucus with them. Only the fourth recognized group, the Conservatives, caucuses regularly with Tory MPs and follows the direction of their party leader.
Freed from party discipline, most senators believe in an Upper Chamber that fulfils its constitutional duty of sober legislative review.
Since 2015, senators successfully amended 22% of government bills that received Royal Assent. Substantive amendments include: establishing an appeal process for the revocation of citizenship due to fraud, ending gender discrimination in Indian Act status, providing soybean farmers with equitable rail service, banning menthol cigarettes, expanding RCMP members’ collective bargaining rights, upholding provincial jurisdiction over consumer protection in banking, rewriting Canada’s access-to-information laws and phasing out chemical testing on animals.
In contrast, during the 10-year tenure of then-prime minister Stephen Harper, senators amended only 7% of government bills, often at the government’s request. In fact, a top-down dynamic between the executive and the Senate then prevailed. In his 2016 Duffy decision, Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt described the then-PMO as ordering senators around like “pawns on a chessboard,” and senior Conservative senators as “robotically marching forth to recite their provided scripted lines.”
In addition, senators have reviewed various aspects of the federal administration. Ministers now regularly appear in hourlong Senate Question Periods. Ministers and senior officials appear before committees to answer non-partisan questions about bills and departments.
On transparency and accountability, today’s Senate is televised, senators’ expenses are proactively disclosed, a modern harassment policy is in place and an audit and oversight committee with external membership has been established.
In terms of representation, the new Senate has near gender parity, with 53% women and senators from diverse backgrounds and walks of life. Today’s Senate has about 10% Indigenous membership. In 2020, the late senator Murray Sinclair said: “The government’s Senate policies have … advanced reconciliation by giving a greater voice to many of Canada’s founding peoples in Parliament and federal law-making. This change is a reminder that such representation should always have occurred, and should always continue in the future, including with access to an open and arm’s-length appointment process.”
It is true that many senators appointed under the new system tend to hold progressive values. However, the current Senate also features a group led by a Harper appointee that includes former Conservative Party senators and many others appointed by Trudeau. In my view, it is important to maintain a diversity of political views in the appointment process.
Canadians are starting to appreciate the new Senate. A 2024 poll sponsored by Senator Donna Dasko showed that seven out of 10 Canadians want to keep the independent appointment process. Only 5% support a return to the old partisan appointment system and its well-documented flaws.
I invite Liberal and Conservative party leaders to commit to preserving the Senate’s independence from political parties. For the Liberal Party, it means continuing a reform that has been constitutional and workable. For the Conservative Party, a good start would be to repeat the decision of then-prime minister R.B. Bennett in the 1930s to remove Conservative senators from caucus meetings. It would signal that the party listens to the desire of Canadians to have an upper legislative chamber that is worth the cost and not a prestigious place to appoint party supporters.
Senator Pierre Dalphond represents Quebec (De Lorimier) in the Red Chamber and is leader of the Progressive Senate Group.
This article was published in The Hill Times on March 24, 2025.
Since the 2015 election, the Senate of Canada has transformed from an echo chamber for the lines of the Liberal and Conservative parties into a valuable institution of sober second thought, as originally contemplated.
This transformation rests on a commitment made in 2015 by former prime minister Justin Trudeau to invite Canadians of all stripes to apply to the Senate, and to appoint only persons who have been recommended by an Independent Advisory Board. The 100 senators appointed through the new system were all told that they were independent from the government. Most of them have since affiliated with either the Progressive Senate Group, the Canadian Senators Group or the Independent Senators Group. These three recognized Senate parliamentary groups act independently from Canada’s political parties, and don’t caucus with them. Only the fourth recognized group, the Conservatives, caucuses regularly with Tory MPs and follows the direction of their party leader.
Freed from party discipline, most senators believe in an Upper Chamber that fulfils its constitutional duty of sober legislative review.
Since 2015, senators successfully amended 22% of government bills that received Royal Assent. Substantive amendments include: establishing an appeal process for the revocation of citizenship due to fraud, ending gender discrimination in Indian Act status, providing soybean farmers with equitable rail service, banning menthol cigarettes, expanding RCMP members’ collective bargaining rights, upholding provincial jurisdiction over consumer protection in banking, rewriting Canada’s access-to-information laws and phasing out chemical testing on animals.
In contrast, during the 10-year tenure of then-prime minister Stephen Harper, senators amended only 7% of government bills, often at the government’s request. In fact, a top-down dynamic between the executive and the Senate then prevailed. In his 2016 Duffy decision, Ontario Court Justice Charles Vaillancourt described the then-PMO as ordering senators around like “pawns on a chessboard,” and senior Conservative senators as “robotically marching forth to recite their provided scripted lines.”
In addition, senators have reviewed various aspects of the federal administration. Ministers now regularly appear in hourlong Senate Question Periods. Ministers and senior officials appear before committees to answer non-partisan questions about bills and departments.
On transparency and accountability, today’s Senate is televised, senators’ expenses are proactively disclosed, a modern harassment policy is in place and an audit and oversight committee with external membership has been established.
In terms of representation, the new Senate has near gender parity, with 53% women and senators from diverse backgrounds and walks of life. Today’s Senate has about 10% Indigenous membership. In 2020, the late senator Murray Sinclair said: “The government’s Senate policies have … advanced reconciliation by giving a greater voice to many of Canada’s founding peoples in Parliament and federal law-making. This change is a reminder that such representation should always have occurred, and should always continue in the future, including with access to an open and arm’s-length appointment process.”
It is true that many senators appointed under the new system tend to hold progressive values. However, the current Senate also features a group led by a Harper appointee that includes former Conservative Party senators and many others appointed by Trudeau. In my view, it is important to maintain a diversity of political views in the appointment process.
Canadians are starting to appreciate the new Senate. A 2024 poll sponsored by Senator Donna Dasko showed that seven out of 10 Canadians want to keep the independent appointment process. Only 5% support a return to the old partisan appointment system and its well-documented flaws.
I invite Liberal and Conservative party leaders to commit to preserving the Senate’s independence from political parties. For the Liberal Party, it means continuing a reform that has been constitutional and workable. For the Conservative Party, a good start would be to repeat the decision of then-prime minister R.B. Bennett in the 1930s to remove Conservative senators from caucus meetings. It would signal that the party listens to the desire of Canadians to have an upper legislative chamber that is worth the cost and not a prestigious place to appoint party supporters.
Senator Pierre Dalphond represents Quebec (De Lorimier) in the Red Chamber and is leader of the Progressive Senate Group.
This article was published in The Hill Times on March 24, 2025.