Commentary
During a week of whirlwind travel and policy announcements from Prime Minister Mark Carney, his appointment of four new senators flew under the radar. Carney has chosen to shift away from the processes for Senate appointments his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, had enshrined and is returning overt partisanship to the chamber. As one of his first acts as prime minister, Trudeau removed Liberal senators from the Liberal parliamentary caucus and had the senators designated as independents. His Senate appointment advisory board was expected to disregard partisan interests from its considerations for appointments.
Those expectations have now been removed.
Canada’s Senate is an institution with strong legislative powers, but non-democratic underpinnings. Unlike the American Senate with elected members and equal representation by state, Canadian senators are directly chosen by the prime minister, and the representation slants strongly toward Eastern Canada, with 72 percent of senators being east of Manitoba. The Senate provides an important function in scrutinizing parliamentary legislation and with committee work. Due to members being appointed by the prime minister, though, the chamber has often been used as a home for patronage appointments and political brinkmanship….