CANADA The Senate
Under Canada’s Constitution, senators are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister. During the election campaign, the Liberal Party promised to create a non- partisan, merit-based process for appointing senators. Accordingly, on 3 December Minister of Democratic Institutions, Hon. Maryam Monsef MP, and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons Hon. Dominic LeBlanc MP, announced the establishment of an Independent Advisory Board on Senate Appointments to advise the Prime Minister on appointments to the Senate. The Prime Minister will appoint the Board’s five members, two of whom will be from the province or territory that has Senate vacancies to be filled.
When evaluating candidates, the Board will take into account gender balance, minority representation, non- partisanship, knowledge of the legislative process and the Constitution, and personal integrity. The first appointments will fill Senate vacancies for Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. The new process was criticized by the Premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, MLA, who said the process would give legitimacy to the un-elected upper house in which her province is under represented. Meanwhile, in late
2015 Senators Hon. John D. Wallace and Hon. Jacques Demers left the Conservative Party caucus to sit as independents, and in February Senator Hon. Pierrette Ringuette left
the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent. Also in February, Senator Hon. Maria Chaput resigned due to health reasons and Senator Hon. Irving Gerstein retired, bringing the number of vacancies in the 105-seat chamber to 24.
Two years ago, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau expelled senators from the Liberal Party parliamentary caucus. As a result, there was a certain amount of confusion about who represents the government in the Senate. In December, the Senate adopted a motion to allow cabinet ministers—none of whom is a senator—to take part in Senate question period. On 3 February, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Hon. Hunter Tootoo MP, appeared in the Senate chamber to answer questions.
E-Petitions
With the opening of a new Parliament, Canadians are now able to submit petitions electronically. Using the e-petitions website, they may select an MP to sponsor their petition. Once they have a sponsor and the Clerk of Petitions has certified that the petition meets the rules, the petition is published on the website and opened for public signatures. If it receives 500 signatures within 120 days, the government must respond to the petition within 45 calendar days.
The first e-petiton was sponsored by Kennedy Stewart MP, whose private member’s motion in the last Parliament led to their adoption.
The Parliamentarian | 2016: Issue One | 73
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