(Ottawa) Prime Minister Mark Carney appoints four people to the Senate, including Quebec Conservative MP Richard Martel.
Mr Carney will thus exclude another member of the Conservative opposition and will thus force another by-election, this time in Chicoutimi-le-Fjord. We’re told that chef Pierre Poiliev’s entourage learned the news on Tuesday morning.
These are Mr. Carney’s first Senate appointments since his election in the spring of 2025. In addition to Mr. Martel, Montreal resident Thomas Pitfield, a close adviser to Mr. Carney and the son of Michael Pitfield, the former secretary of the Privy Council to Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, will also sit in the Upper House.
Dr Rodney Ouellette from New Brunswick, close to Minister Dominic Leblanc, and Gita Tucker from Manitoba will also be senators.
By appointing these first senators, Prime Minister Mark Carney is also eliminating the political impartiality test for Senate appointments that Justin Trudeau introduced when he came to power in 2015.
“Today, we defend the Senate and its important role by ensuring it is composed of people with the talent, skills and perspective needed to meet the challenges of this new era,” Mr. Carney said in a news release.
Mr. Carney believes people who have served in elected office or other partisan positions can make “valuable contributions” to the Senate, especially through their knowledge of decision-making and legislative processes.
For months, all of Ottawa has been waiting for the first prime ministerial appointments in this chamber, which should give the elected House of Commons an “objective second look.”
Canada’s 105 senators are appointed by the prime minister and their mandate expires at age 75. There are still six spots left to fill.