Senate reform by press release
An apparently hot take: constitutional reforms probably shouldn’t be announced as one of a string of press releases while on a trip out of the country?
Ok, ok, we had a whole Supreme Court reference on whether different changes to how Senators require constitutional amendments. And the levers pulled by PM Trudeau-era changes, which PM Carney took a turn with today don’t trigger an amending formula. But let’s not lawyer it too heavily — the makeup of the Senate is a feature of the constitution, and changing it is a constitutional reform.
The changes that PM Trudeau brought in, like them or not, were at least a prominent feature of the LPC 2015 platform. That platform said “we will create a new, non-partisan, merit-based process to advise the Prime Minister on Senate appointments” - and that is pretty well what they did. The Senate didn’t get a mention in the 2025 LPC platform.
Tuesday’s announcement appointing four Senators was one of 8 news releases issued by the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday. It contains all of 630 words, and no backgrounder (besides bios of the new appointees). It was issued while the PM was in Ankara at the NATO summit.
It’s also incredibly murky. While the headline is “Prime Minister Carney modernises Senate Appointment Process to response to Canada’s emerging challenges,” it’s not quite clear what’s being modernised or what challenges are being responded to.
There are three substantive comments on the appointments process in the announcement.
The first is that the government is re-establishing the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments — though these 4 appointments are being made without that advice.
The second is adding “enhanced focus and expertise in key Canadian strategic industries, regulatory frameworks, and emerging social and economic affairs” to the criteria for new applicants. As guidance to the an independent advisory committee is pretty weak link to the makeup of the senate.
Finally there’s “removing the non-partisanship criterion for Senate appointments” Here’s what the merit-based criteria say today:
“Individuals must demonstrate to the Advisory Board that they have the ability to bring a perspective and contribution to the work of the Senate that is independent and non-partisan. They will also have to disclose any political involvement and activities. Past political activities would not disqualify an applicant.”
That criterion wasn’t enough of a barrier to the appointment of Roger Cuzner, Sandra Pupatello, Tony Ince, or Victor Boudreau under PM Trudeau. And there doesn’t seem to be any indication that there will be a return to a Liberal caucus in the Senate. Conservative MP Richard Martel is expected to serve as an independent.
In the end, the “modernising” of the Senate appointment process might be more marketing differentiation from Justin Trudeau than anything else. Either way, Canadians deserve a little more democracy in their democratic reform, even if it’s about the unelected chamber.
