On the independent Senate topic, this story came out earlier this year.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sen...rals-1.7260664
Quote:
Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's promise to rid the Senate of partisanship and patronage, most of the senators appointed to the upper house over the past year have ties to the Liberals.
Since July 2023, Trudeau has nominated 12 senators, eight of whom — 66 per cent of the total — have donated money to the federal Liberals or have worked with the federal party or a provincial Liberal party.
That's a significant jump in the number of Senate appointees with partisan Liberal ties — up from about 30 per cent of all senators appointed between January 2019 and July 2023.
"I think it is a disturbing trend," said Emmett Macfarlane, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo who wrote a draft document that became the basis for the advisory committee on Senate appointments.
"The appointment of the occasional partisan or person with a partisan history is completely, I think, valid," he said. "What is troubling is to see a slew of partisan appointments, particularly those that match the government stripes. This actually goes against the whole spirit of the reform."
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Even the ones who don't have obvious ties to the party, most would have similar ideology to the governing party. The idea that all of these Senators are "independent" is a farce.
Both Senators appointed last week are previous elected Liberals
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tru...avut-1.7415280
Quote:
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Karetak-Lindell was a member of the Liberal Party when she was an MP and Surette was a member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party as an MLA.A CBC News analysis conducted earlier this summer found more than half of Trudeau's most recent Senate appointments had Liberal connections.
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I agree that we need another layer of government in this country but until the Senate is reformed and either elected or given term limits it is mostly a rubber stamp.