More than half of recent Senate appointments have ties to Liberal Party

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."

In 2014, as the Senate was mired in an expenses scandal, then-opposition leader Trudeau expelled senators from the Liberal caucus.

As prime minister, he created an independent and nonpartisan advisory board for Senate appointments in 2016. Since then, he's named only senators recommended by the board. Trudeau has named more than 80 senators since taking office.

His recent appointments include:

The other two recently appointed senators with ties to the Liberal Party are lawyer Réjean Aucoin and Olympian Marnie McBean, both of whom both made donations to the federal party.

Elections Canada records show that Aucoin made 11 donations to the Liberal Party of Canada over 18 years.

McBean made one donation to Liberal MP and fellow Olympian Adam van Koeverden. In a statement issued to CBC News, McBean said she has backed causes championed by Liberal and Conservative prime ministers and premiers and supports individuals and the work they do, rather than parties.

Conservative Sen. Denise Batters said the ties between the newly-appointed senators and the governing party prove that the appointment process is not truly independent.

"Frankly, this is much like a lot of things that have happened with the Trudeau government," Batters told CBC News.

"Justin Trudeau promised an independent Senate. But what has happened is actually the exact opposite of it. He's still trying to hide behind this veneer of independence."