Prime Minister Mark Carney makes his way to Question Period on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Mark Carney will not allow senators to return to the Liberal caucus, a senior government official said Thursday, ending speculation on how the Prime Minister will handle the second chamber.
His predecessor, Justin Trudeau, unilaterally expelled Liberal senators from the party’s caucus in 2014 in response to the Senate expense scandal. Once in government, Mr. Trudeau set up an arms-length advisory panel to recommend Senate appointments. The move was ostensibly intended to remove partisanship, but has been criticized by Conservatives for not living up to that goal.
Mr. Carney has not appointed any senators since he formed government last spring. The delays have sparked speculation in Ottawa about whether he would break with the new regime brought in by Mr. Trudeau. But the senior government official said the Prime Minister does not intend to allow senators to sit in the Liberal caucus.
The Globe and Mail is not identifying the official because they were not permitted to disclose the government’s plans before they are formally made public.
They clarified the government’s position after Mr. Carney on Wednesday confirmed he would keep the advisory board in place but didn’t specify whether new appointees would be part of his caucus.
Carney to continue using Trudeau-era advisory board on Senate appointments
There are currently nine vacancies in the 105-member Senate and another six senators are planning to retire by the end of 2026.
The Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments is beset by even more vacancies. It has just five sitting members and 24 vacancies and is not accepting applications for Senate seats.
The Privy Council Office did not provide any clarity on when the appointments would begin. “Information regarding Senate appointments will be available in due course,” spokesperson Pierre-Alain Bujold said in a brief statement Thursday.
Asked for specifics about Mr. Carney’s plans, his spokesperson, Audrey Champoux, said the government believes the Senate is working effectively and has “made critical progress debating and passing legislation.”
Since Mr. Trudeau expelled senators from his caucus, they have created their own recognized groups within the Senate. The Conservatives are still represented there, with the rest of the chamber split into the Independent Senators Group, the Canadian Senators Group and the Progressive Senate Group. There are also unaffiliated senators, and five senators who are part of the Government Representative’s Office in the Senate.
While Mr. Carney has not formalized his decision, it aligns with the sentiment inside the Senate, said Senator Rodger Cuzner, a former Liberal MP, who was appointed in 2023.
“I’m not getting any overwhelming sense that there’s a great desire to go back into the federal caucus,” he said Thursday.
Senator Percy Downe said the point is moot. “You can’t go where you’re not invited,” he said.
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Mr. Downe is one of the few remaining senators who was booted from the Liberal caucus by Mr. Trudeau. He said there are a few senators who wish they could be part of the Liberal caucus. But he said he believes there are other ways to influence government policy.
He added that the government has had no trouble passing legislation under the new regime, because even though senators are nominated by the independent advisory board they are mostly aligned with Liberal policy.
“The vast majority of people appointed by Justin Trudeau are certainly Liberal Party supporters or leaning Liberal,” Mr. Downe said.
Over the course of Mr. Trudeau’s nine-year tenure the Senate became increasingly lopsided, with just 11 Conservatives left in the 105-member chamber. A party needs at least nine senators to be an officially recognized party or parliamentary group.
Last month Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged Mr. Carney to appoint some Tory senators as well. He said such a move was warranted because the Senate should better reflect the results of the last general election, when 41 per cent of votes were cast for the Conservatives.
That’s something Mr. Downe said he expects the Prime Minister to do. He said the Senate needs an official opposition to properly function, and without one it risks becoming an “echo chamber.”