Conservative MP Richard Martel on Parliament Hill in 2018. He has been an MP for Chicoutimi–Le Fjord since 2018 and will fill one of the current Senate vacancies in Quebec.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Quebec Conservative MP Richard Martel is quitting his caucus and being appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Mark Carney to sit as an independent.
Mr. Carney made the announcement Tuesday morning as he also appointed three others, including his principal secretary, Tom Pitfield.
Mr. Martel has been an MP for Chicoutimi–Le Fjord since 2018 and will fill one of the current Senate vacancies in Quebec.
In a French statement posted to social media, he said that becoming a senator is a way to keep working for his region, for Quebec and for Canada.
Mr. Martel resigned as an MP on Tuesday morning, effective immediately. His departure follows that of four other Conservative MPs since November. They crossed the floor to join the Liberal caucus in the House of Commons.
In the 2025 election, his riding was nearly a three-way split, with Mr. Martel securing 34 per cent of the vote and the Liberals and Bloc Québécois each winning 31 per cent.
In addition to Mr. Martel and Mr. Pitfield, Mr. Carney appointed New Brunswick’s Dr. Rodney Ouellette and Manitoba’s Geeta Tucker, a corporate executive.
All are expected to sit as independents.
There are still six other vacancies in the 105-member Senate, and five more are anticipated by the end of the year.
Mr. Carney also announced changes to the appointments process on Tuesday.
While he is leaving in place the independent advisory board to recommend new Senate candidates, he is expanding the criteria for those applications.
In the statement announcing the changes, Mr. Carney said there will be an added focus on finding people with expertise in “key Canadian strategic industries, regulatory frameworks, and emerging social and economic affairs.”
The government is also removing the non-partisanship criterion.
“This decision recognizes the valuable contributions made by Canadians who have chosen to serve in elected office or in other partisan roles, including knowledge of the governing and legislative processes, which will contribute to a stronger, more effective Senate,” the statement said.
The advisory board, along with an open application process for Senate posts, was set up by Justin Trudeau when he became prime minister in 2015.
It followed his decision to remove all the Liberal senators from his party’s caucus in 2014 in response to the scandal at the time over Senate expenses.
The senators appointed by Mr. Trudeau sit as independents, though many have formed their own groupings inside the Senate.
The Conservatives still have a party caucus and have criticized the previous Liberal appointments as remaining partisan despite Mr. Trudeau’s promises that they would be otherwise.
But Conservative Sen. Leo Housakos, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, had warm words for all the appointees Tuesday.
“Pleased to congratulate Dr. Rodney Ouellette, Thomas Pitfield, Geeta Tucker, on their appointments to the Senate of Canada – and especially pleased to welcome my friend and longtime caucus colleague, Richard Martel to the Upper Chamber,” he said on social media.
“I look forward to continuing to work with him and all of our new colleagues in service to Canadians.”
The announcement on Tuesday said applications to the Senate will still be accepted from the public.
Mr. Carney framed his approach as protecting the work of the Senate.
“Since Confederation, the Senate has been an independent pillar of our Parliament – a vital means through which Canadians from all regions of the country scrutinize, debate and pass legislation with the goal of bettering our nation,” he said.
“Today, we are protecting the Senate and its critical role by ensuring it is comprised of the talent, expertise and perspectives required to meet the challenges of a new era.”
Prior to becoming Mr. Carney’s principal secretary, Mr. Pitfield was the executive national campaign director for the Liberals’ 2025 general election campaign.
He was also highly involved in the development and rollout of the government’s artificial intelligence strategy.
His ties to the Liberal Party run deep; his father, Michael Pitfield, was appointed to the Senate by then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau.
He is personal friends with Justin Trudeau, and in 2014, Mr. Pitfield founded a firm, Data Sciences, that would help the Liberal Party vault ahead of its Conservative rivals when it came to using data to analyze and target voters.
That work saw the Liberals go from third place to victory in the 2015 election campaign.