The Gold Standard: Senator Gold reflects on his Red Chamber career
Lawyer, legal scholar and lifelong musician, Senator Marc Gold leaned on knowledge and skills from his varied career to hit all the right notes in the Senate.
Following his appointment to the Upper Chamber in 2016, the Quebec senator threw himself into committee work and was named Government Representative in the Senate just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced Parliament to move its work online. Over the last five and half years, Senator Gold was responsible for guiding government legislation through the Senate and fielding tough questions during Senate Question Period.
In his swan song for SenCAplus, Senator Gold reflects on his time as Government Representative, his love for music and learning, and his plans for his first year of “retirement” after leaving the Red Chamber on June 30, 2025.
In your first career, you worked as a constitutional lawyer and university professor, and became an expert in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What drew you to that body of law?
A combination of circumstance and happenstance. I went back to school to study law in my mid-20s. I loved studying law, but I didn’t have any real desire to practise and one of my professors said, “Have you ever thought about graduate school?” I applied and I got in — and out of happenstance, I ended up taking a course on Canadian federalism.
Around the same time, the Supreme Court decided a case on equality rights, the Stella Bliss case, and I found it to be a disappointing decision, which allowed me to write my thesis criticizing it.
I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, and my advisor said: “Have you ever thought about teaching? Let me make a call for you.” And next thing I knew, I was invited by a law school to give a seminar; I gave the seminar, and they offered me a job.
They asked me to teach constitutional law and evidence law, and so I started teaching it and researching it.
A 15-year-old Senator Gold in 1965 with his first electric guitar. (Photo credit: Office of Senator Marc Gold)
You’ve said music has “always played an enormous role” in your life. Why has it remained important to you to make time for musical pursuits outside of your day job?
I’ve loved music all my life. I’ve been playing an instrument ever since I was 8 years old; I’ve been playing guitar since I was 13 years old. It is an important part of who I am. It’s an important part of how I feel that I can express myself authentically. There is something about playing music — with others, especially — that feels fundamentally real and nourishing.
I’m very aware that I’m a certain age, but when I strap on a guitar and plug it into an amplifier, I’m 15 years old again and playing in a rock ’n’ roll band. I still play in bands because it keeps me grounded. I look forward to having more time for more music in the next chapter of my life.
You strayed from tradition with your maiden speech in the Red Chamber and spent your allotted time speaking to an amendment to consumer protection provisions in the 2016 budget implementation bill. Why did you make that choice?
In my early months in the Senate, a bill was presented that, in my analysis, interfered unnecessarily with Quebec’s jurisdiction over consumer protection law — a jurisdiction that was exclusive to the province, even though the legislation in question dealt with it in the context of banking. And I was not satisfied with the rationale given by the government officials in our study of the bill. I felt compelled as a senator from Quebec to add my voice to those who raised questions and objections to the overreach and so I rose in the Chamber on that first occasion to speak to the issue. Whether one agrees or disagrees with my position at the time, I was glad to get my feet wet on a substantive matter that affected my province’s interests.
You worked in Centre Block before it closed for rehabilitation in 2019. Do you have any fond memories from your time working in the building?
There was much that I enjoyed about it — not the least of which was getting to know members from the House of Commons. Most importantly, I remember the first day that I walked into Centre Block. It was with this feeling of awe and tradition. It’s just an overwhelming feeling and I continued to feel that over the last eight years, every time I walked up to the Hill. As I approach my retirement, it’s particularly poignant.
You were appointed Government Representative in the Senate in January 2020. What do you believe has been your biggest accomplishment in this role?
I feel very privileged to have been asked by former prime minister Justin Trudeau to fill this role. It’s been the greatest privilege of my life, but the accomplishments are those of our office and our team.
Through our work, most of which is behind closed doors, I think we helped this new, less partisan, more independent Senate work well. I think we played an important role in demonstrating that this way of doing work in the Senate can work, does work and works well for the benefit of Canadians. Our focus is on government legislation. We studied it seriously. We suggested improvements to it where the Senate thought necessary. As Government Representative, I didn’t always agree with the amendments, but we worked collaboratively with senators to study them as well as we could, and we’ve improved legislation responsibly.
I think we also succeeded in demonstrating to parliamentarians more generally that the Senate can work. It wasn’t evident to every member of Parliament that this new Senate could possibly function. And over time, I can tell you that important people in the government developed a certain confidence in our office to tell them what they needed to know about what the Senate expects by way of being treated as an equal and important House of Parliament. The Senate is no longer a rubber stamp or an echo chamber of the hyper-partisanship that too often dominates debate in the House of Commons. I think I’ve tried to model that approach to politics in my role as Government Representative. I hope that I’ve demonstrated that it’s possible to prosecute an idea with evidence and argumentation without descending into sloganeering and personal attacks.
You were the face of Question Period in the Senate for five and a half years. How did you manage the demands of that responsibility?
I was well prepared, and I was well advised. I’ve had a group of colleagues with whom I met before every sitting to go over the issues of the day, and to prepare me with the information that’s available to respond to questions that may come my way. I’m also comfortable improvising — which one has to do often in Question Period — and that comes from playing in bands all my life!
Colleagues also taught me two things. One: That I represent the government, but I’m not the government — and that my role, like a good lawyer, is to put the position of my client forward in the best and most persuasive, honest and accurate way that I can. Second: That this is politics; don’t take it personally. It’s not always possible to do that. There have been times when some questions got under my skin. But by and large, I tried not to let the very sharp questions that I got compromise the personal relationships that I had developed — and that I treasure — with members in all parties in the Senate.
What will you miss most about working in the Red Chamber?
I’m going to miss my team a lot. I’ll miss the friendship and the camaraderie here in the office. I’m going to miss my colleagues in the Senate. I’ll also miss the opportunity to be part of the revitalization of an important institution. I think our political and legal institutions in Canada matter. Our institutions in small ‘l’ liberal democracies really matter and we’re living in a time when they’re under siege. To have played some role as a senator, and in this role as Government Representative, with other like-minded senators … who would have thought? I never thought that a kid from NDG in Montréal, the grandson of immigrants, would have this opportunity at this stage of my life.
I’m going to miss the work. What is common to everything I’ve really enjoyed in life is that I learn. And I have learned an enormous amount in the eight and a half years that I’ve been here. I ended up on the Fisheries and Oceans committee, ended up as deputy chair, and it became a passionate interest. I love my job now, but I kind of miss the committee work because I learned so much in so many other areas. I also learned about myself — because this is a hard job. I grew as a person. I grew as a negotiator. I became a better listener. And I think I became better at my job.
What are your retirement plans?
I’m looking forward to new opportunities to learn. I can’t believe that I’m at retirement age — it just doesn’t seem right, so I’m going to take a gap year. I’ll be a visiting fellow at the Institute for the Study of Canada at McGill University. In the winter semester, I’ll be teaching a course on how Canada works — on the interaction of policy, politics and the legislative process.
My wife and I are talking about maybe taking a course together in an area that neither of us knows anything about. I don’t know what that will be, but it’ll be an opportunity to continue to grow, because I ain’t done yet.
Senator Gold and his wife Nancy sit on their favourite old stone wall at their home in Sutton, Quebec in 2021, with the Green Mountains in the distance. The couple loves to spend as much time as they can in farm country. (Photo credit: Office of Senator Marc Gold)
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The Gold Standard: Senator Gold reflects on his Red Chamber career
Lawyer, legal scholar and lifelong musician, Senator Marc Gold leaned on knowledge and skills from his varied career to hit all the right notes in the Senate.
Following his appointment to the Upper Chamber in 2016, the Quebec senator threw himself into committee work and was named Government Representative in the Senate just a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic forced Parliament to move its work online. Over the last five and half years, Senator Gold was responsible for guiding government legislation through the Senate and fielding tough questions during Senate Question Period.
In his swan song for SenCAplus, Senator Gold reflects on his time as Government Representative, his love for music and learning, and his plans for his first year of “retirement” after leaving the Red Chamber on June 30, 2025.
In your first career, you worked as a constitutional lawyer and university professor, and became an expert in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What drew you to that body of law?
A combination of circumstance and happenstance. I went back to school to study law in my mid-20s. I loved studying law, but I didn’t have any real desire to practise and one of my professors said, “Have you ever thought about graduate school?” I applied and I got in — and out of happenstance, I ended up taking a course on Canadian federalism.
Around the same time, the Supreme Court decided a case on equality rights, the Stella Bliss case, and I found it to be a disappointing decision, which allowed me to write my thesis criticizing it.
I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, and my advisor said: “Have you ever thought about teaching? Let me make a call for you.” And next thing I knew, I was invited by a law school to give a seminar; I gave the seminar, and they offered me a job.
They asked me to teach constitutional law and evidence law, and so I started teaching it and researching it.
A 15-year-old Senator Gold in 1965 with his first electric guitar. (Photo credit: Office of Senator Marc Gold)
You’ve said music has “always played an enormous role” in your life. Why has it remained important to you to make time for musical pursuits outside of your day job?
I’ve loved music all my life. I’ve been playing an instrument ever since I was 8 years old; I’ve been playing guitar since I was 13 years old. It is an important part of who I am. It’s an important part of how I feel that I can express myself authentically. There is something about playing music — with others, especially — that feels fundamentally real and nourishing.
I’m very aware that I’m a certain age, but when I strap on a guitar and plug it into an amplifier, I’m 15 years old again and playing in a rock ’n’ roll band. I still play in bands because it keeps me grounded. I look forward to having more time for more music in the next chapter of my life.
You strayed from tradition with your maiden speech in the Red Chamber and spent your allotted time speaking to an amendment to consumer protection provisions in the 2016 budget implementation bill. Why did you make that choice?
In my early months in the Senate, a bill was presented that, in my analysis, interfered unnecessarily with Quebec’s jurisdiction over consumer protection law — a jurisdiction that was exclusive to the province, even though the legislation in question dealt with it in the context of banking. And I was not satisfied with the rationale given by the government officials in our study of the bill. I felt compelled as a senator from Quebec to add my voice to those who raised questions and objections to the overreach and so I rose in the Chamber on that first occasion to speak to the issue. Whether one agrees or disagrees with my position at the time, I was glad to get my feet wet on a substantive matter that affected my province’s interests.
You worked in Centre Block before it closed for rehabilitation in 2019. Do you have any fond memories from your time working in the building?
There was much that I enjoyed about it — not the least of which was getting to know members from the House of Commons. Most importantly, I remember the first day that I walked into Centre Block. It was with this feeling of awe and tradition. It’s just an overwhelming feeling and I continued to feel that over the last eight years, every time I walked up to the Hill. As I approach my retirement, it’s particularly poignant.
You were appointed Government Representative in the Senate in January 2020. What do you believe has been your biggest accomplishment in this role?
I feel very privileged to have been asked by former prime minister Justin Trudeau to fill this role. It’s been the greatest privilege of my life, but the accomplishments are those of our office and our team.
Through our work, most of which is behind closed doors, I think we helped this new, less partisan, more independent Senate work well. I think we played an important role in demonstrating that this way of doing work in the Senate can work, does work and works well for the benefit of Canadians. Our focus is on government legislation. We studied it seriously. We suggested improvements to it where the Senate thought necessary. As Government Representative, I didn’t always agree with the amendments, but we worked collaboratively with senators to study them as well as we could, and we’ve improved legislation responsibly.
I think we also succeeded in demonstrating to parliamentarians more generally that the Senate can work. It wasn’t evident to every member of Parliament that this new Senate could possibly function. And over time, I can tell you that important people in the government developed a certain confidence in our office to tell them what they needed to know about what the Senate expects by way of being treated as an equal and important House of Parliament. The Senate is no longer a rubber stamp or an echo chamber of the hyper-partisanship that too often dominates debate in the House of Commons. I think I’ve tried to model that approach to politics in my role as Government Representative. I hope that I’ve demonstrated that it’s possible to prosecute an idea with evidence and argumentation without descending into sloganeering and personal attacks.
You were the face of Question Period in the Senate for five and a half years. How did you manage the demands of that responsibility?
I was well prepared, and I was well advised. I’ve had a group of colleagues with whom I met before every sitting to go over the issues of the day, and to prepare me with the information that’s available to respond to questions that may come my way. I’m also comfortable improvising — which one has to do often in Question Period — and that comes from playing in bands all my life!
Colleagues also taught me two things. One: That I represent the government, but I’m not the government — and that my role, like a good lawyer, is to put the position of my client forward in the best and most persuasive, honest and accurate way that I can. Second: That this is politics; don’t take it personally. It’s not always possible to do that. There have been times when some questions got under my skin. But by and large, I tried not to let the very sharp questions that I got compromise the personal relationships that I had developed — and that I treasure — with members in all parties in the Senate.
What will you miss most about working in the Red Chamber?
I’m going to miss my team a lot. I’ll miss the friendship and the camaraderie here in the office. I’m going to miss my colleagues in the Senate. I’ll also miss the opportunity to be part of the revitalization of an important institution. I think our political and legal institutions in Canada matter. Our institutions in small ‘l’ liberal democracies really matter and we’re living in a time when they’re under siege. To have played some role as a senator, and in this role as Government Representative, with other like-minded senators … who would have thought? I never thought that a kid from NDG in Montréal, the grandson of immigrants, would have this opportunity at this stage of my life.
I’m going to miss the work. What is common to everything I’ve really enjoyed in life is that I learn. And I have learned an enormous amount in the eight and a half years that I’ve been here. I ended up on the Fisheries and Oceans committee, ended up as deputy chair, and it became a passionate interest. I love my job now, but I kind of miss the committee work because I learned so much in so many other areas. I also learned about myself — because this is a hard job. I grew as a person. I grew as a negotiator. I became a better listener. And I think I became better at my job.
What are your retirement plans?
I’m looking forward to new opportunities to learn. I can’t believe that I’m at retirement age — it just doesn’t seem right, so I’m going to take a gap year. I’ll be a visiting fellow at the Institute for the Study of Canada at McGill University. In the winter semester, I’ll be teaching a course on how Canada works — on the interaction of policy, politics and the legislative process.
My wife and I are talking about maybe taking a course together in an area that neither of us knows anything about. I don’t know what that will be, but it’ll be an opportunity to continue to grow, because I ain’t done yet.
Senator Gold and his wife Nancy sit on their favourite old stone wall at their home in Sutton, Quebec in 2021, with the Green Mountains in the distance. The couple loves to spend as much time as they can in farm country. (Photo credit: Office of Senator Marc Gold)