Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will appoint a final group of senators to fill vacancies in the upper chamber before he resigns, his office confirmed to Global News on Monday.
Parliament is currently prorogued until March 24 while the Liberals choose a new leader to succeed Trudeau, meaning the Senate and the House of Commons are not sitting and legislative business is on hold. That doesn’t prevent the appointment of new senators, however, and the Prime Minister’s Office says the selection process is underway.
“The prorogation of Parliament does not affect the ability of the Governor General to appoint persons to the Senate on the advice of the Prime Minister,” the PMO said in a statement.
“The Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments has provided or will provide the Prime Minister with a non-binding selection of candidates to consider for each seat to be filled. The Prime Minister takes his responsibility to appoint senators seriously and is committed to doing so for as long as he remains in office.”
Radio-Canada first reported on the prime minister’s plans.
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The additional senators to be appointed by Trudeau will further solidify his mark on the Senate, which is already substantial.
All but 21 of the 97 currently sitting senators in the 105-seat chamber are Trudeau appointees. Just 12 senators are affiliated with the Conservative Party.
The number of vacancies is expected to rise to 10 by February due to retirements.
Since becoming prime minister in 2015, Trudeau has appointed several Liberal donors, organizers and former MPs to the Senate, as well as former candidates for the party.
Most of Trudeau’s appointees sit in Senate caucuses that identify as independent, but have historically voted to advance his legislative priorities — though often with proposed changes.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Monday accused Trudeau, who he called a “lame-duck” prime minister, of seeking to “stack the Senate with his personal friends and Liberal insiders” before he leaves.
“No new appointments should happen until Canadians decide who gets to run the country in a general election,” Poilievre wrote on social media.
The Liberals are set to choose a new leader on March 9, and the winner of the leadership race will automatically become prime minister.
Opposition parties, however, have promised to introduce non-confidence motions as soon as Parliament returns on March 24, making a spring election increasingly likely.
The Conservatives have enjoyed a growing double-digit lead in the polls for several months, and could form government in the next election.
A Senate increasingly controlled by Trudeau-appointed members could mean additional scrutiny and even delays for a Conservative government’s legislative agenda.
Sen. Don Plett, the Conservative opposition leader in the upper chamber, appeared to call on Liberal leadership candidates to “push back” on Trudeau’s appointment plans in a social media post Monday.
“Trudeau has lost the legitimacy of appointing Senators since announcing his resignation; to appoint Senators at this point would be an act of desperation,” he wrote.
—with files from Global’s Jillian Piper
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