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Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poièvre will speak during Parliament's Question Time in the House of Commons in Ottawa on May 1.Blair Gable/Reuters
One of Justin Trudeau's first major moves after winning the Liberal Party leadership position in early 2014 was to expel the party's senators from his caucus. The move seemed bold, even inspired. This was a major step toward rebuilding the then-discredited Senate, and was intended to help the new Liberal leader establish his political image as a post-partisan reformer.
Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Senate has been mired in spending scandals, Canadians have grown more disgusted with the Senate than ever, and the Senate has long been a den of benefactors filled with languid political hacks. He was being criticized.
By announcing that Liberal members of the Senate will no longer be allowed to sit with MPs in caucus, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that the scandal was a major blow to the mostly Conservative Senate, who have been accused of fraudulently claiming subsistence and travel expenses. The scandal involving members of Congress was brought under control and almost brought to an end. 150 years of political tradition and function.
“The Senate must be nonpartisan. Composed only of thoughtful individuals who represent the diverse values, perspectives, and identities of this great nation.” [and] “We are independent from any particular political brand,” Trudeau said at the time, announcing that as prime minister he would “introduce open and transparent policies.” [and] A “bipartisan” Senate appointment process.
Since becoming prime minister in 2015, Trudeau has nominated 81 senators based on the recommendations of the Independent Advisory Committee on Senate Appointments, 70 of whom currently sit in the Senate. Members of the Independent Advisory Committee on Senate Appointments are appointed by the government.
The majority of Prime Minister Trudeau's appointees belong to three organizations. The 17-member Canadian Senators Group (CSG). and the 14-member Progressive Senate Group (PSG). There are also seven independent senators and three government representatives.
There are still 13 Conservative senators in the upper house, who are still members of their caucus and form the official opposition party in the upper house. As such, they are assigned privileges and resources that members of other Senate groups do not enjoy. But the Conservatives' seats are rapidly dwindling as Harper-appointed senators reach the retirement age of 75. By the end of 2025, when the next federal election is due, there will only be six Conservative members in the upper house.
This raises serious questions about how the Senate will operate under a future Conservative government led by Pierre Poièvre. A future Poièvre government, with only a handful of Conservative senators, will see its legislative policy bogged down, if not completely derailed, by a Senate with a majority of Prime Minister Trudeau-appointed members for years to come. There is a possibility that it will be stored away.
At least this is what Conservative Senate leader Don Plett recently hinted after government representative Mark Gold tabled a motion last month to change Senate rules to give equal privileges to ISG, CSG and PSG. Thing. During debate on the motion, Gold claimed the new rules were aimed at “leveling the playing field.” [the] The goal is to fulfill “this government's election promise” to “consolidate” Mr. Trudeau's reforms.
Mr. Plett demurred. “Are you trying to entrench this ridiculous structure that Justin Trudeau created in the Senate right before the election because you know the Liberal Party will be wiped out?” the Manitoba senator asked. “Is this motion the first part of a Senate construction plan to block the common sense changes that Pierre Poièvre and his team will bring to Canada?”
The Senate appointment process that Prime Minister Trudeau implemented may be nominally nonpartisan, but the prime minister overwhelmingly appoints like-minded people to the Senate, which in turn votes overwhelmingly for government-led legislation. No one can deny that. . This, rather than its supposed nonpartisanship, is the main reason why the Senate has all but disappeared from the public consciousness in recent years.
That may change. After all, there is nothing to prevent Liberal opponents in the House of Commons from turning to Mr. Trudeau's Senate appointees in the future and disrupting the Conservative government's ability to pass legislation in Parliament. The temptation to do so would be great. And Gold's proposed rule changes would make it much easier for ISG and PSG members to delay government legislation.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was at odds with a hostile Liberal-controlled Senate and was forced to call an early election in 1988 after Senate obstruction threatened to pass the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. . He fought a close battle with Liberal senators over the goods and services tax.
Will there be another sense of déjà vu for a future Conservative government? Poilievre promised to cancel the federal carbon tax, reinstate consecutive sentences for serial killers and repeal the Liberals' environmental assessment bill. Will Mr. Trudeau's Senate appointees follow the wishes of the Conservative majority in the House of Commons?
The real test of Mr. Trudeau's “independent” Senate may yet be yet to come.
