New Senate Appointments Stir Controversy: What’s the Debate About?

The Senate Chamber in Ottawa on Feb.18, 2019. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest appointments to the Senate have been met with criticism from various sectors of society, including a provincial premier.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the will of Albertans was not respected in the appointments of Daryl Fridhandler and Kristopher Wells to represent Alberta as independent senators. Alberta has been holding non-binding elections since 1989 to choose its senators-in-waiting, the only jurisdiction with such a practice.

“The Senate continues to lose credibility as an institution and needs to be entirely reformed,” Smith wrote on social media in reaction to the appointments on Aug. 31.

Fridhandler is a lawyer who held various roles with the Liberal Party until 2013, while also being a member of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 2011 to 2015, according to his online résumé.

Wells is an associate professor at MacEwan University described by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as an “educator, a scientific expert, and champion for the 2SLGBTQI+ community.”

The PMO, Fridhandler, and Wells were contacted for comment but did not respond by publication time.

Alberta held its last Senate election in 2021, with Pam Davidson and Erika Barootes, both affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada, winning the most votes. Scott Tannas is Alberta’s last elected Senate appointee from 2013 and is currently still serving.

Two weeks before the Alberta appointments, former broadcaster and political commentator Charles Adler was appointed to represent Manitoba in the Senate and hospital executive Tracy Muggli got the nod for Saskatchewan.

The PMO said Adler had throughout his career “used his platform to champion human rights and Canadian democracy.” Muggli was praised by the PMO for her career in public service. She was a Liberal Party candidate in 2015 and 2019 and is a longtime party donor, according to contribution records.

Independent Senators

All senators appointed under Trudeau have been labelled as independent following his termination of partisan appointments in 2015. He had previously removed all senators from the Liberal caucus in 2014 before taking power.

Trudeau said at the time party affiliation interfered with the Senate’s duty to provide proper checks and balances and amplified the prime minister’s power.

Candidates to the Senate are currently reviewed by the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, which makes short-list recommendations to the prime minister. The appointments are formalized by the governor general.

The Conservatives reacted to the latest appointments by challenging the independent label.

“The reality is that nearly every person [Trudeau] has appointed is in fact a Liberal Senator,” Sebastian Skamski, spokesperson for Tory Leader Pierre Poilievre, said in a statement.

Skamski said Adler has been using his public voice to support Trudeau and attack the Conservatives.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs also denounced Adler’s appointment, citing past negative remarks toward First Nations people.

The assembly asked Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to rescind the appointment, saying it views it as a “step backward in the ongoing efforts towards reconciliation and the recognition of First Nations rights in Canada.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Adler but didn’t hear back. He told CBC News he wishes to have a face-to-face meeting with the chiefs. “I am accountable for what I say and do,” he reportedly said.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, Canada’s first indigenous premier, congratulated Adler on his appointment.

86 Appointees

The latest additions to the Senate bring the total number of senators appointed under Trudeau to 86 out of 105 seats in the upper chamber.

Though the ratio would appear to favour the Liberal government, the Senate has shown some independence from the House. During the previous Parliament, Bill C-10 to revamp the Broadcasting Act faced Senate opposition and died on the order paper when an election was called.

Senators asked for amendments in its new iteration, Bill C-11, with the House accepting some of them before the bill became law in 2023. The piece of legislation gave the CRTC regulatory power over some internet content.

More recently, in late 2023 senators passed a last-stage amendment to Bill C-234, which sought to remove the carbon tax on propane and natural gas to heat or cool barns and to dry grain.

The private member’s bill from Conservative MP Ben Lobb was part of the Conservatives’ push against the carbon tax, a key Liberal policy.

The amendment kept only the drying grain aspect and the bill was returned to the House of Commons. There, the Liberals control the legislative agenda and can let the piece of legislation wait until it dies on the order paper when the next election is called.

The next election could see the Conservatives win a majority based on current polling, in which case Poilievre would face a Senate largely composed of Trudeau appointees. The lack of formal ties to the Liberal Party, however, could reduce the potential for confrontation.

Senator Tannas told The Epoch Times in a previous interview that the Senate atmosphere has changed dramatically from the time he was appointed in 2013, with less animosity and partisan politics.

“It’s a much more fluid and open place than it was when I first arrived,” he said.

Tannas was appointed by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who had attempted his own reform of the Senate.

Tory MP Tim Uppal, currently Poilievre’s deputy, had tabled Bill C-7 in 2011 when he was minister of state for democratic reform to allow the election of senators by provincial electors and to set a nine-year term limit.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that most of the proposed changes in the bill could not constitutionally be passed by Parliament, as they would require the consent of at least seven provinces representing at least half of the population of all the provinces. Bill C-7 never made it to second reading in the House of Commons.