Roundup: Nine new senators

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Nine new senators were appointed yesterday, with another 12 appointments to come in the next few days. By the time that happens, the non-aligned senators will have the plurality in the chamber, but that is causing a bit of consternation among some of the existing independent senators. Senator André Pratte sent out a missive decrying that committee seats are not proportional yet, while Senator Claude Caignan groused about the appointment process as being neither open, transparent, nor non-partisan, and insinuated that they were all Liberals in all-but-name and intimated that they would all be “steadfastly loyal” to the Prime Minister for appointing them – you know, just like he was unthinkingly partisan and loyal to Harper since his own appointment.

As for some of the new senators, PowerPlay interviewed incoming senator Patricia Bovey and the chair of the appointments committee, Hughette Labelle, while Power & Politics interviewed Diane Griffin. The Canadian Press profiled Daniel Christmas, who will be the first Mi’kmaq senator.

P&P went hard on the fact that some of these new senators had previously donated to parties – and not all of them to the Liberals – which is irksome because it’s giving this message of a rather unfair level of non-partisanship being expected when donations are part of political engagement in our system, and we should want senators who have at least had some level of engagement and were not completely disinterested in politics. As for the pace at which the modernization to the Senate rules are happening, I would caution against moving too quickly – as Pratte is demanding, Senator Peter Harder is glowering darkly about, and Terry Milewski was being ridiculous in his characterisation of on P&P. If we want an upper chamber that is functional but not dominated by parties, we want to make sure that rule changes are done right and not in haste, and we especially don’t want them to be turning over any swaths of power to Harder as the “government representative,” as he is already empire-building and starting to try and co-opt the non-aligned senators as they organise themselves. If they’re not getting on committees fast enough, that’s in part because the rules are such that committees can’t be reconstituted until a prorogation, but we also want to give these new senators time to get adjusted and settled. Throwing them onto committees too soon will be overwhelming, and if they’re interested, they can still sit in on the committee meetings and contribute – they just can’t vote. The proportions of seats will adjust before too long. A little patience is not a bad thing.

Good reads:

  • The Walloons agreed to sign onto CETA after Belgium agreed to a list of their conditions, and now more hoops must be jumped through before final ratification.
  • The Ethics Commissioner wants tighter rules on fundraisers (like she’s been asking for years) while the Lobbying Commissioner wants to take a closer look at them.
  • The federal government appointed a special representative to help them deal with provinces and territories as they reform First Nations child welfare systems.
  • The opposition wants assurances that the new frigate replacement design process isn’t just a blank cheque.
  • Revealed documents show that the finance department at one point predicted a CPP hike might have longer effect on job growth than initially reported.
  • One Conservative MP on the justice committee got into a terse exchange with the minister over the trans rights bill.
  • One of Maxime Bernier’s organizers has jumped ship for Andrew Scheer’s campaign. Scheer also got the endorsement of three former MPs.
  • Here’s a look at some of the more positive aspects of the demise of the Canadian Wheat Board on grain ports in Canada.
  • Chantal Hébert warns that the bar set by Justice Rowe’s nomination to the Supreme Court could make future appointments even more challenging.

Odds and ends:

Yesterday marked 20 years of the landmine ban treaty, which Canada spearheaded.