P.E.I. Senate seat should be filled by end of year
7 new Liberal-appointed senators Friday
Seven new Liberal-appointed senators were announced today, but none of them are from P.E.I. — which means there is still one vacant seat in the province.
The P.E.I. seat has been vacant since July 2014 when Catherine Callbeck stepped down at the mandatory retirement age of 75 after a political career that spanned more than 40 years.
Libbe Hubley and Percy Downe are currently P.E.I. senators, and Senator Mike Duffy is currently on a leave of absence with pay pending the outcome of his trial. He faces 31 criminal charges of fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to expenses he claimed as a senator. Duffy has pleaded not guilty to all those charges. A decision is expected on April 21.
The appointments Friday leave 17 vacancies in the Red Chamber.
If P.E.I. is going to be able to sort of swing its weight in the Senate it needs effective voices there.- Rick MacLean, Holland College journalism instructor
That no new senator was named for P.E.I. isn't a surprise — the federal government announced in December the appointments process would be implemented in two phases, one transitional and one permanent, according the Government of Canada website.
Prime Minister changing tone of Senate
"I think that it's fairly clear that the Prime Minister is trying to change the tone when it comes to the Senate. I think he's trying to make it more non-partisan. I think he wants to take it out of the political realm ... and turn it into I think what people were looking at years ago which is sober second thought," said Rick MacLean, journalism instructor at Holland College.
MacLean said filling the P.E.I. senate vacancy is important. "Now this isn't a small deal because if P.E.I. is going to be able to sort of swing its weight in the Senate it needs effective voices there."
How other Senate vacancies will be filled
The remaining vacancies, including the one in P.E.I., will be filled later in 2016 as part of a permanent process. Enhancements will be implemented to the appointments process at that time, including a newly launched application process that will allow individual Canadians to apply for appointment to the Senate, as well as broader consultations to inform the Independent Advisory Board members.
There will be further adjustments to the appointments process that will take into consideration lessons learned and comments received during the transitional phase.
In January, the Liberals named an advisory board to help Prime Minister Justin Trudeau make his picks for the Red Chamber.
Only three provinces — Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec — are participating in that board right now, the government has said, because they have the most Senate vacancies to fill.
According to the Senate's website, Ontario had eight vacancies before today's appointments, Quebec six and Manitoba four. Both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had two vacancies, while British Columbia had one.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark said in December that her province would decline to take part in the advisory board because it did not want to validate the process. She said B.C. — with a total of six senators in the 105-member Senate — is under-represented.
Trudeau had promised to create the advisory body two years ago when he kicked all Liberal senators out of his party's caucus.