Representative of the Government in the Senate
| Representative of the Government in the Senate | |
|---|---|
| Représentant du gouvernement au Sénat | |
since January 24, 2020 | |
| Government Representative Office Senate of Canada | |
| Style | The Honourable |
| Member of | |
| Reports to | Prime Minister |
| Appointer | Prime Minister[1] |
| Formation | July 1, 1867 |
| First holder | Alexander Campbell (as Leader of the Government) |
| Salary | $230,300 (2017)[2] |
| Website | senate-gro |
 |
|---|
The representative of the Government in the Senate (French: représentant du gouvernement au Sénat) is the member of the Senate of Canada who is responsible for introducing, promoting, and defending the government's bills in the Senate after they are passed by the House of Commons. The representative is appointed by the prime minister.
The position replaced the leader of the Government in the Senate (French: leader du gouvernement au Sénat), which from 1867 to 2015 was a senator who was a member of the governing party and led the government caucus in the Senate of Canada (whether or not that party held a majority in the Senate). The position of Leader had almost always been held by a Cabinet minister, except briefly in 1926, from 1958 to 63 and from 2013 to the position being discontinued in 2015.
The government representative's counterpart on the Opposition benches is the leader of the Opposition in the Senate, who continues to be a member of the Official Opposition political party.
Senator Marc Gold has served as the second and current representative of the Government in the Senate since January 24, 2020.
History
As Leader of the Government
Early Canadian cabinets included several senators who would be answerable to the Senate for government actions, one of whom would serve as de facto government leader in the Senate. In the nineteenth century, it was not considered unusual for a senator to be Prime Minister. Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott and Sir Mackenzie Bowell served as prime minister from the Senate. Abbott and Bowell both found it difficult to lead the government from the Senate, however, and over time, the perceived legitimacy of the Senate declined. Today, it is rare for senators to occupy prominent positions in cabinet. From 1935 on, it was typical for a cabinet to have only one senator who would have the position of minister without portfolio alongside the position of leader of the government in the Senate.
There have been a few rare occasions when the leader of the government in the Senate was not included in the cabinet by virtue of a separate ministerial appointment, such as William Benjamin Ross who served in the position in 1926, and Walter Morley Aseltine and Alfred Johnson Brooks who were not included in the cabinets of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker from 1958-1963. In 1968, the position of leader of the government in the Senate became an official Cabinet position in its own right with the appointment of Paul Martin, Sr. (father of Canada's future prime minister, Paul Martin). From July 2013, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the government leader in the Senate was again a non-cabinet minister.
Occasionally, senators still hold senior cabinet positions (other than the leader of the government in the Senate) in order to ensure regional balance in cabinet if the governing party is unable to elect members in a particular region or province, e.g., when the Progressive Conservative Party formed the government under the leadership of Joe Clark in 1979, and when the Liberal Party formed the government under the leadership of Pierre Trudeau in 1980. However, it is usually the case that the leader of the government in the Senate is the sole senator serving in Cabinet.
The responsibilities of the leader of the government in the Senate include:
- Planning and managing the government's legislative program in the Senate
- Answering all questions for the government during the Senate's Question Period
- Maintaining relations with the opposition on all matters concerning Senate activities
- Working with the leader of the Government in the House of Commons to ensure the effective coordination of the government's legislative programme.
The government side in the Senate is the party that forms the government in the House of Commons. This means that the government party in the Senate may have fewer seats than the opposition, particularly when a general election results in a new party forming government.
As Representative of the Government
Due to current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 2014 decision to remove senators from the Liberal Party of Canada caucus, leaving them all effectively sitting as independent senators, Trudeau named a Representative of the Government in the Senate in the 42nd Canadian Parliament rather than a government leader.[3] The situation created some uncertainty about how the Senate would function, and how government legislation would be brought to the Senate.[3] Retired civil servant Peter Harder was named to the position on March 18, 2016.[4][5]
On November 29, 2019, the Prime Minister's office announced[6] that Senator Harder would be stepping down from his position as Representative of the Government in the Senate effective December 31, 2019.[6] It was also announced that Senator Grant Mitchell would retire as Government Liaison in the Senate but would continue until a replacement for Harder was named in "due course."[6] On January 24, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Senator Marc Gold had agreed to become the new Government Representative in the Senate, sitting as a non-affiliated senator and would also be sworn in as a Privy Councillor.[7]
Office holders
Key:
| Leader in the Senate | Term of office | Prime Minister (ministry) | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leader of the Government in the Senate | |||||
| Alexander Campbell (1st time) | July 1, 1867 | November 5, 1873 | Sir John A. Macdonald (1) | Liberal-Conservative | |
| Luc Letellier de St-Just | November 5, 1873 | December 14, 1876 | Alexander Mackenzie (2) | Liberal | |
| Sir Richard William Scott (1st time) | December 14, 1876 | October 7, 1878 | |||
| Alexander Campbell (2nd time) | October 18, 1878 | January 26, 1887 | Sir John A. Macdonald (3) | Conservative | |
| Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott | May 12, 1887 | June 6, 1891 | |||
| June 16, 1891 | October 30, 1893 | Himself (4) | |||
| Sir Mackenzie Bowell | October 31, 1893 | December 12, 1894 | Sir John Thompson (5) | ||
| December 21, 1894 | April 27, 1896 | Himself (6) | |||
| April 27, 1896 | August 19, 1896 | Sir Charles Tupper (7) | |||
| Sir Oliver Mowat | August 19, 1896 | November 18, 1897 | Sir Wilfrid Laurier (8) | Liberal | |
| David Mills | November 18, 1897 | February 7, 1902 | |||
| Sir Richard William Scott (2nd time) | December 14, 1902 | 1908 | |||
| Sir Richard John Cartwright | 1909 | October 6, 1911 | |||
| Sir James Alexander Lougheed | October 10, 1911 | October 12, 1917 | Sir Robert Borden (9/10) | Conservative | |
| October 12, 1917 | 10 July 1920 | Unionist Party | |||
| 10 July 1920 | December 28, 1921 | Arthur Meighen (11) | Conservative | ||
| Raoul Dandurand (1st time) | December 29, 1921 | June 28, 1926 | William Lyon Mackenzie King (12) | Liberal | |
| William Benjamin Ross[n 1] | June 28, 1926 | September 24, 1926 | Arthur Meighen (13) | Conservative | |
| Raoul Dandurand (2nd time) | September 25, 1926 | August 6, 1930 | William Lyon Mackenzie King (14) | Liberal | |
| Wellington Bartley Willoughby | August 7, 1930 | February 3, 1932 | R. B. Bennett (15) | Conservative | |
| Arthur Meighen | February 3, 1932 | October 22, 1935 | |||
| Raoul Dandurand (3rd time) | October 23, 1935 | March 11, 1942 | William Lyon Mackenzie King (16) | Liberal | |
| James Horace King | May 26, 1942 | August 24, 1945 | |||
| Wishart McLea Robertson | August 24, 1945 | November 15, 1948 | |||
| November 15, 1948 | October 14, 1953 | Louis St. Laurent (17) | |||
| William Ross Macdonald (1st time) | October 14, 1953 | June 20, 1957 | |||
| John Thomas Haig | October 9, 1957 | May 11, 1958 | John Diefenbaker (18) | Progressive Conservative | |
| Walter Morley Aseltine[n 1] | May 12, 1958 | August 31, 1962 | |||
| Alfred Johnson Brooks[n 1] | August 31, 1962 | April 21, 1963 | |||
| William Ross Macdonald (2nd time) | April 22, 1963 | February 2, 1964 | Lester B. Pearson (19) | Liberal | |
| John Joseph Connolly | February 3, 1964 | April 20, 1968 | |||
| Paul Martin Sr.[n 2] | April 20, 1968 | August 7, 1974 | Pierre Trudeau (20) | ||
| Ray Perrault (1st time) | August 8, 1974 | June 3, 1979 | |||
| Jacques Flynn | June 4, 1979 | March 2, 1980 | Joe Clark (21) | Progressive Conservative | |
| Ray Perrault (2nd time) | March 3, 1980 | September 29, 1982 | Pierre Trudeau (22) | Liberal | |
| Bud Olson | September 30, 1982 | June 29, 1984 | |||
| Allan MacEachen | June 30, 1984 | September 16, 1984 | John Turner (23) | ||
| Dufferin Roblin | September 17, 1984 | June 29, 1986 | Brian Mulroney (24) | Progressive Conservative | |
| Lowell Murray | June 30, 1986 | June 24, 1993 | |||
| June 24, 1993 | November 3, 1993 | Kim Campbell (25) | |||
| Joyce Fairbairn | November 4, 1993 | June 10, 1997 | Jean Chrétien (26) | Liberal | |
| Alasdair Bernard Graham | June 11, 1997 | October 3, 1999 | |||
| J. Bernard Boudreau | October 4, 1999 | January 8, 2001 | |||
| Sharon Carstairs | January 9, 2001 | December 11, 2003 | |||
| Jack Austin | December 12, 2003 | February 6, 2006 | Paul Martin (27) | ||
| Marjory LeBreton | February 6, 2006 | July 14, 2013 | Stephen Harper (28) | Conservative | |
| Claude Carignan[n 1] | August 20, 2013 | November 3, 2015 | |||
| Representative of the Government in the Senate | |||||
| Peter Harder[n 1] | March 18, 2016 | December 31, 2019[6] | Justin Trudeau (29) | Non-affiliated[n 3][6] | |
| Marc Gold[n 1][7][8] | January 24, 2020 | present | |||
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Not in the Cabinet
- ^ Until April 1, 1969, Martin was, as had been typical, Minister without portfolio while holding the unofficial post of leader of the government in the Senate. Thereafter, Leader of the Government in the Senate became an official ministerial office.
- ^ Sit as non-affiliated but represent the Liberal government for the purposes of introducing legislation and acting as a liaison.
References
- ^ "Senate of Canada - About the Senate". 25 January 2019.
- ^ "Indemnities, Salaries and Allowances". Parliament of Canada.
- ^ a b "4 issues hanging on Justin Trudeau’s plans for the Senate". Toronto Star, November 8, 2015.
- ^ "Justin Trudeau names seven new senators". Toronto Star. March 18, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
- ^ "Liberals set up non-partisan, merit-based process for choosing new senators". Toronto Star, December 3, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "The Prime Minister announces changes to the Senate leadership". Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. Government of Canada. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ^ a b "The Prime Minister announces new Government Representative in the Senate". Office of the Prime Minister of Canada. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- ^ "Trudeau appoints constitutional lawyer Marc Gold as government leader in the Senate". CBC News. January 24, 2020. Retrieved January 24, 2020.