Meet Senator Peter Harder
As a high-level public servant who served under five prime ministers and 12 ministers, Senator Peter Harder learned to work with parliamentarians on both sides of the political aisle.
This skill served the Ontario senator well when he joined the Senate in 2016. Initially the government representative, Senator Harder spent four years ushering government legislation through the Upper House, including the legalization of cannabis and medical assistance in dying, among others.
Learn more about Senator Harder’s extensive public sector career and his work in the Senate.
Before your Senate appointment, you served almost 30 years in the federal sector. What initially drew you to public service?
I grew up in a home that valued public service and community involvement, and I also developed an interest in foreign policy and Parliament at a young age. I first came to Ottawa 50 years ago through the Parliamentary Internship Program, which allowed me to see the House of Commons up close in a non-partisan role.
I always knew I would go into some kind of public service forum. I ended up serving five prime ministers and 12 ministers as a deputy minister, which gave me experience working with a wide range of personalities and points of view. This experience has served me well in the Senate.
You were appointed to the Senate in 2016. What made you want to trade working behind the scenes for a more public role?
I’m an institutionalist, but I also believe our political institutions need refurbishing from time to time. In 2015, several years after I had retired from the public service, I was asked to meet with Justin Trudeau, who was leader of the Liberal Party at the time. After he became prime minister, he asked if I would lead his transition to government.
When I came to the Senate, I wanted to make the institution less partisan and more independent. In my first session, we dealt with a broad range of issues, and we amended a lot of bills. I think this reflected well on the Senate in its role as Parliament’s “sober second thought.”
Your parents and grandparents fled the Soviet Union in the 1920s to resettle in Canada. How has your family’s refugee experience informed your work with newcomers?
In 1919, the Canadian Parliament passed an order-in-council preventing all Mennonites, Hutterites and Doukhobors from coming to Canada. Thankfully, the order was rescinded three years later, and my family was able to resettle here.
As a youth, I learned to value public service, helping those in need and refugee protection. My family instilled these values in me, and I have carried them throughout my career.
While working as an assistant to former foreign affairs minister Flora MacDonald in the late 1970s, I helped resettle 60,000 refugees from Vietnam. I later served as the founding executive director of the Immigration and Refugee Board, and then deputy minister of immigration. Whenever I would hear someone complain to me about Canada’s reception of refugees, I reminded them that this is not the first time in our history that these issues have emerged. We should remind ourselves that, aside from Indigenous peoples, we’ve all been immigrants or refugees. I think immigration has enriched the Canadian experience.
You served as the Government Representative in the Senate from your appointment in 2016 until 2020. What were your highlights from this role?
I’m grateful for having had the opportunity to help shape a less partisan, more independent Senate.
I also viewed myself as not just the representative of the government to the Senate, but the representative of the Senate to the government. In that role, I think we passed 83 bills and 29 of them were amended in some fashion.
Before prorogation, you tabled a motion stating that the Senate should not adopt any bill that references the notwithstanding clause, and you recently tabled a bill that would restrict Parliament’s ability to invoke this clause. Why is this issue important to you?
I’m concerned by the increasing use of the notwithstanding clause at the provincial level and I fear that we are normalizing it. When a government invokes this section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for school pronoun policies or labour disputes, then I think that is an abuse of the notwithstanding clause.
The Canadian government has yet to use the notwithstanding clause, but I think the Senate needs to have a discussion on what manner and form that should take. I look forward to continuing the conversation with my latest bill.
You served as deputy chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade when the committee released a substantive report on Canada’s foreign service. What do you hope the federal government, and Canadians, take away from this report?
I think Canada has been well served and will continue to be well served by its foreign service. Our report was designed to advise the government on how to update its foreign service to meet the needs of the 21st century. We are a country that depends on global relationships. We must develop our role in the world, and a foreign service that is aligned with the government’s objectives in this area can continue serving Canada extremely well.
You served as the sherpa to the prime minister during the G8 summit meetings. What was that experience like?
The meetings are extraordinarily informal and there’s real engagement amongst the heads of state. I helped nurture the compromises that are necessary to create a communiqué, or final statement, of all the participating leaders. The issues of the day centred on climate action, African debt relief, communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and others. I think Canada played a helpful role in advancing these issues at the table.
I was in the room when a note was handed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair about the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005. Then at the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg the following year, we had the Lebanon crisis. There was an instantaneous, informal high-level conversation around what could be done. Stephen Harper, the prime minister at the time, was very involved with other leaders and officials in accelerating humanitarian relief.
Your mandatory retirement date is in 2027. What do you hope to accomplish as a senator in the next two years?
Senators are obligated to deal with government legislation, so my priority is to help ensure that government legislation is the best it can be.
I had launched a Senate inquiry on RCMP reform — which includes strengthening the federal policing mandate and getting the RCMP out of provincial policing — and I hope to continue focusing on that.
I also remain interested in foreign policy issues, of which there’s no shortage of problems.
You have sung in choirs for many years. What role does music play in your life?
Music has always been part of my life. Growing up, I played violin, cello, piano, sang in choirs — and I was the least musical member of my family! I’m into classical music. I recently saw pianist Angela Hewitt perform Bach and Mozart at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Then the orchestra performed Beethoven’s Fifth, which I had played on the cello with the youth orchestra, so it brought back memories.
You also enjoy reading in your spare time. Do you have any book recommendations?
In this age of global populism and isolationism, I would recommend Anne Applebaum’s latest book, Autocracy, Inc. Timothy Snyder, a great Yale historian of Middle and Eastern Europe, has a newer book out, On Freedom, which is a great read. I also like crime fiction and spy fiction, including the works of John le Carré and his son, who writes under the pen name of Nick Harkaway. And I’m an Ian Rankin fan. You can smell the cigarettes and the booze as you’re reading his novels.
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Meet Senator Peter Harder
As a high-level public servant who served under five prime ministers and 12 ministers, Senator Peter Harder learned to work with parliamentarians on both sides of the political aisle.
This skill served the Ontario senator well when he joined the Senate in 2016. Initially the government representative, Senator Harder spent four years ushering government legislation through the Upper House, including the legalization of cannabis and medical assistance in dying, among others.
Learn more about Senator Harder’s extensive public sector career and his work in the Senate.
Before your Senate appointment, you served almost 30 years in the federal sector. What initially drew you to public service?
I grew up in a home that valued public service and community involvement, and I also developed an interest in foreign policy and Parliament at a young age. I first came to Ottawa 50 years ago through the Parliamentary Internship Program, which allowed me to see the House of Commons up close in a non-partisan role.
I always knew I would go into some kind of public service forum. I ended up serving five prime ministers and 12 ministers as a deputy minister, which gave me experience working with a wide range of personalities and points of view. This experience has served me well in the Senate.
You were appointed to the Senate in 2016. What made you want to trade working behind the scenes for a more public role?
I’m an institutionalist, but I also believe our political institutions need refurbishing from time to time. In 2015, several years after I had retired from the public service, I was asked to meet with Justin Trudeau, who was leader of the Liberal Party at the time. After he became prime minister, he asked if I would lead his transition to government.
When I came to the Senate, I wanted to make the institution less partisan and more independent. In my first session, we dealt with a broad range of issues, and we amended a lot of bills. I think this reflected well on the Senate in its role as Parliament’s “sober second thought.”
Your parents and grandparents fled the Soviet Union in the 1920s to resettle in Canada. How has your family’s refugee experience informed your work with newcomers?
In 1919, the Canadian Parliament passed an order-in-council preventing all Mennonites, Hutterites and Doukhobors from coming to Canada. Thankfully, the order was rescinded three years later, and my family was able to resettle here.
As a youth, I learned to value public service, helping those in need and refugee protection. My family instilled these values in me, and I have carried them throughout my career.
While working as an assistant to former foreign affairs minister Flora MacDonald in the late 1970s, I helped resettle 60,000 refugees from Vietnam. I later served as the founding executive director of the Immigration and Refugee Board, and then deputy minister of immigration. Whenever I would hear someone complain to me about Canada’s reception of refugees, I reminded them that this is not the first time in our history that these issues have emerged. We should remind ourselves that, aside from Indigenous peoples, we’ve all been immigrants or refugees. I think immigration has enriched the Canadian experience.
You served as the Government Representative in the Senate from your appointment in 2016 until 2020. What were your highlights from this role?
I’m grateful for having had the opportunity to help shape a less partisan, more independent Senate.
I also viewed myself as not just the representative of the government to the Senate, but the representative of the Senate to the government. In that role, I think we passed 83 bills and 29 of them were amended in some fashion.
Before prorogation, you tabled a motion stating that the Senate should not adopt any bill that references the notwithstanding clause, and you recently tabled a bill that would restrict Parliament’s ability to invoke this clause. Why is this issue important to you?
I’m concerned by the increasing use of the notwithstanding clause at the provincial level and I fear that we are normalizing it. When a government invokes this section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for school pronoun policies or labour disputes, then I think that is an abuse of the notwithstanding clause.
The Canadian government has yet to use the notwithstanding clause, but I think the Senate needs to have a discussion on what manner and form that should take. I look forward to continuing the conversation with my latest bill.
You served as deputy chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade when the committee released a substantive report on Canada’s foreign service. What do you hope the federal government, and Canadians, take away from this report?
I think Canada has been well served and will continue to be well served by its foreign service. Our report was designed to advise the government on how to update its foreign service to meet the needs of the 21st century. We are a country that depends on global relationships. We must develop our role in the world, and a foreign service that is aligned with the government’s objectives in this area can continue serving Canada extremely well.
You served as the sherpa to the prime minister during the G8 summit meetings. What was that experience like?
The meetings are extraordinarily informal and there’s real engagement amongst the heads of state. I helped nurture the compromises that are necessary to create a communiqué, or final statement, of all the participating leaders. The issues of the day centred on climate action, African debt relief, communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and others. I think Canada played a helpful role in advancing these issues at the table.
I was in the room when a note was handed to British Prime Minister Tony Blair about the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005. Then at the G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg the following year, we had the Lebanon crisis. There was an instantaneous, informal high-level conversation around what could be done. Stephen Harper, the prime minister at the time, was very involved with other leaders and officials in accelerating humanitarian relief.
Your mandatory retirement date is in 2027. What do you hope to accomplish as a senator in the next two years?
Senators are obligated to deal with government legislation, so my priority is to help ensure that government legislation is the best it can be.
I had launched a Senate inquiry on RCMP reform — which includes strengthening the federal policing mandate and getting the RCMP out of provincial policing — and I hope to continue focusing on that.
I also remain interested in foreign policy issues, of which there’s no shortage of problems.
You have sung in choirs for many years. What role does music play in your life?
Music has always been part of my life. Growing up, I played violin, cello, piano, sang in choirs — and I was the least musical member of my family! I’m into classical music. I recently saw pianist Angela Hewitt perform Bach and Mozart at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Then the orchestra performed Beethoven’s Fifth, which I had played on the cello with the youth orchestra, so it brought back memories.
You also enjoy reading in your spare time. Do you have any book recommendations?
In this age of global populism and isolationism, I would recommend Anne Applebaum’s latest book, Autocracy, Inc. Timothy Snyder, a great Yale historian of Middle and Eastern Europe, has a newer book out, On Freedom, which is a great read. I also like crime fiction and spy fiction, including the works of John le Carré and his son, who writes under the pen name of Nick Harkaway. And I’m an Ian Rankin fan. You can smell the cigarettes and the booze as you’re reading his novels.