Mark Carney will use Trudeau’s Senate appointment model — a decision he kept to himself for more than a year, and revealed only after his government secured majority status
“We will be appointing senators in due course and I will take into account the advice of the independent advisory committee that was established by my predecessor,” Carney said at a news conference in Mirabel, Quebec on May 6.
That was his response in full. The Hill Times editorial board noted today that Carney “had nothing to say about the Senate until after he had secured a majority in the House of Commons following a spate of floor-crossings and byelection victories.”
Nine Senate seats are currently vacant, with six more senators set to retire later this year — meaning Carney faces upward of 15 appointments before 2027. Quebec alone has five vacancies.
The advisory committee meant to recommend candidates is itself nearly dismantled: of its required composition of three federal members plus two representatives from each province and territory, only the three federal positions and Nova Scotia’s two spots are filled.
Senator Marilou McPhedran warned last month that the vacancy pile-up may signal the end of “a largely community-driven selection process at arm’s length from the patronage of the Prime Minister’s Office.”
The advisory committee’s recommendations are non-binding. Carney said he will “take into account” — not follow — its advice, leaving him full discretion over final appointments.
Trudeau’s use of the same model drew consistent Conservative criticism, with the party arguing his ostensibly independent picks “skewed progressive” and that the application process has “always been fake.”
Trudeau’s reforms, introduced after a 2014 Senate expense scandal, removed Liberal senators from caucus and replaced patronage appointments with the committee model — creating three new recognized Senate groups that now outnumber Conservatives and hold equal procedural powers to call witnesses, defer votes, and sit on committees.
Whether Carney intends to appoint Liberals to the Senate — reversing Trudeau’s model — or continue with independent appointments remains unstated. The phrasing “take into account” leaves both options open.
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